The Los Angeles Clippers were without Eric Gordon on Wednesday night as the Bulls came to the Staples Center.
Derrick Rose started out strong in the first quarter by hitting on all three of his first long-range attempts. But former Bulls’ head coach Vinny Del Negro’s crew did not lay down and die. L.A. worked their way within six points by the end of the first half behind a dominant performance by Blake Griffin, who scored 25 points in the first half.
Griffin would, however, be slowed down in the third quarter as the Bulls threw a barrage of defenders at him, including Carlos Boozer, Kurt Thomas and Taj Gibson.
The third quarter belonged to Chicago’s All Star starting point guard, Derrick Rose, who had 12 points and a number of acrobatic shots—a couple in which he blew right by Blake Griffin.
Rose definitely bested Griffin in Wednesday night’s show down. Blake Griffin had a couple of monster jams (including an alley-oop dunk right over the head of the Bulls’ Kyle Korver), but it was Derrick who heard the “MVP” chants in Staples.
Griffin finished with 32 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists on 14-of-26 shooting, but was only 4-of-13 from the free throw line.
Rose had 32 points and 11 assists on 11-of-18 shooting. Deng poured in 26 points and added six rebounds and five assists.
Chicago’s 106-88 victory broke the Clippers’ 9-game home winning streak. This is a team that tends to give the Bulls problems with their athleticism and even defeated them earlier in the season. But Chicago was too much for them tonight and extended their winning streak to six as they will travel north to Oakland to play the Golden State Warriors in their next game on Saturday night.