Newark, NJ – The Chicago Bulls shot 55.6 percent from the pointers and went 19-of-23 from the foul line en route 87 win over the New Jersey Nets on Monday night.
But it was not all pretty for the Bulls, who lost star guard Derrick Rose in the second quarter to lower back spasms. Rose had just four points in nearly 11 minutes of action before leaving.
Carlos Boozer led the way with 24 points, six rebounds and five assists for Chicago, which improved to 4-2 on a nine-game road trip. Luol Deng added 19 points.
"We're a good team. If I play or if I don't play, I know that we're going to go out there, compete and play hard every single second when we're out there," said Rose.
Deron Williams ended with 25 points and five assists for the Nets, who have lost three in a row. Sundiata Gaines and Jordan Farmar donated 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Bulls came out of the gates on fire, starting the game on a 20-6 run. Deng had 13 points in the frame and made a pair of three-pointers late in the period to make it a 35-12 game.
Chicago shot 76.5 percent from the field over the first 12 minutes en route to a 35-14 margin.
"We just couldn't really get anything going. We didn't do a good job of executing and a lot of that was their defense taking us out of things," Williams said about his team's start to the game. "Then it just kind of spiraled down from there."
The lead reached 25, 56-31, on Kyle Korver's three-pointer with 3:10 remaining in the half. The score was 62-37 at the break.
Chicago led by as many as 32 in the second half and never looked back.
Game Notes
The Bulls have won four in a row over the Nets, but are just 3-16 in their past 19 trips to the Garden State....Chicago improved to 12-5 on the road this season...The Bulls are 11-0 this year when reaching the century mark in scoring...Nets guard Anthony Morrow missed the game due to personal reasons...Chicago was without guard Richard Hamilton (sore groin/bruised right thigh)...The Nets shot 40.5 percent from the field and went 3-for-17 from beyond the arc.