Tonight, the Chicago Bulls were a lot like the priests who restored Linda Blair because they were exorcising demons all over the place.
Third time the charm for beating the Charlotte Bobcats? Roger that.
Winning the first home game after a long road trip instead of falling flat in the homestand opener? Done.
Beating an inferior team that for some reason matches up really well? Check.
Defeating the team owned by His Airness at Chicago homecoming? Check mate.
Loul Deng led the way with 24 points, as the Bulls finally pulled away for good in the fourth quarter. Carlos Boozer had 16 points and nine rebounds while Derrick Rose had 18 to go with 11 assists. The Bobcats also made just 18% of their threes while Chicago knocked down half of their attempts.
“We protect our home court. We love playing in our building in front of our fans. We especially like coming back after being on the road for the last two weeks. We love playing in our building,” Carlos Boozer said.
Kyle Korver was a perfect 5 for 5 from the field, 3 for 3 from behind the arc.
“Whenever a team tries to get the ball out of one player’s hands with the double team, having shooting on the floor is critical. Kyle had a good game and caused spacing of their defense and Carlos Boozer was terrific with his play making and finishing. And Taj was very active and made plays be keeping the ball in our hands,” said Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau.
“This is a team we lost to twice. We haven’t played well against them either time. We talked about that a lot the last couple of days. We came out focused and played a very good game,” said Korver.
In addition to Jordan and Pippen, the game was also attended by the three McDonald’s All-Americans who hail from the Chicago area. The three blue-chip recruits had the chance to meet Derrick Rose before the game.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net. He doesn’t have a real nickname, but he is also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
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