NBA: Chicago Bulls rout Orlando Magic, 89-81 at Amway Centre
Two of the best teams of the Eastern Conference came face to face at the Amway Centre, Orlando, and the matchup ended with a 89-81 Bulls’ win over the Orlando Magic. Despite Magic’s continuously competitive game, the Bulls kept the atmosphere balanced in
the opening quarter but took a second quarter lead over Chicago, a whopping 28-14. They went 33-for-4 from the long range with two straight 3-pointers hit by Watson in the frame.
Derrick Rose led all the players with 24 points as the Chicago Bulls pushed the Orlando Magic to a loss despite Magic’s chances from before the game to make it a win. The Bulls took their rebounding advantage aboard and being second best rebounding team
of the NBA, they clinched 50-30 rebounding margin that helped them surge over the Magic.
Following a bad long range shooting, Orlando Magic could not assemble 17 three-pointers going 6 for 23 from the deep. The Bulls however went 7 for 19 and 34-for-83 from the field whereas Orlando went 31-for-70 in shooting from field.
Luol Deng scored 16 points, and grabbed six rebounds plus dished out three assists on important shots. Carlos Boozer pulled out 12 points and was just one rebound shy of a double-double in the victory.
The Bulls broke free of the buzz created by the 83-80 loss they had suffered at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday and broke Magic’s four-game winning streak. Not only this, but they also snapped five-game skid over Bulls at Orlando.
Dwight Howard, who was recently awarded Player of the Month, scooped 20 points and grabbed 10 boards for Orlando. Ironically, the player received his 16th technical foul and as a result gets a one-game suspension. He will miss Orlando’s game against
the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday if the foul is not called out by the NBA.
Brandon Bass pinned 16 points in the loss, going 6-for-9 from the three-pointer zone and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
The Bulls entered the third quarter holding a 14-point lead over the opposition and made it 51-35 with a fade-away shot coming from Carlos Boozer. Jameer Nelson tried to amend by adding three shots that included two layups and a jumper to cut to a 41-53.
Three straight free throws clinched by Gilbert Arenas at the end of third quarter helped Orlando reach 57-65, but the Bulls were not very generous in letting them score more tenaciously.
Howard’s foul story was amusing. The player swung his elbows on Korver and was called for a technical foul by referee Ed Malloy. The player might also be fined a sum of $5,000 along with a one-game suspension for the act.
The player when asked about the foul said, “It’s very frustrating and there’s only so much that somebody can take when people are grabbing you, holding you and slapping you in the face, sometimes you are going to retaliate.” The 6’11” tall player also added
that he will have to be less emotional.
The Bulls were prepared to face the Orlando Magic team who took over the Miami Heat just a night ago and did best practice to keep them from cruising past. Boozer shed light on this issue when he said, “We watched the (Magic) game last night and did our
homework. They came back by three, and in Miami game Dwight did a great job of passing out to the shooters and they were hitting them.”
Korver played with an eagle eye from the deep. He went a whopping 3-for-3 in the last 4 minutes of the game to help Chicago stamp their win.
Among the franchise-record of 19,207, were also the familiar faces of Golf champion Tiger Woods, Julius Irving and Karl Malone (the basketball Hall of Famers) and Anquan Boldin (receiver of Baltimore’s Ravens).