Chicago Bulls Weekly: Tom Thibodeau Not Taking The Bait On Coaching Future
By Phil Watson
Bulls 102, Los Angeles Lakers 100 (OT): Monday, Jan. 20 (United Center, Chicago)
The Bulls came in off a blowout win against the 76ers, while Los Angeles arrived off their first back-to-back wins in a month. The Lakers had three active players not dressed—Steve Blake (elbow), Jordan Farmar (hamstring) and Xavier Henry (knee).
Chicago got off to a solid start, taking a 31-26 lead at the first quarter break. Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah each scored six points for the Bulls, while Boozer added five rebounds. Jodie Meeks scored nine points for the Lakers.
Los Angeles surged back in the second period, holding Chicago to 5-of-20 shooting to take a 52-49 lead at halftime. Nick Young heated up for the Lakers, scoring 13 points in the quarter. Noah had five points and six rebounds for the Bulls.
Chicago held Los Angeles to 6-of-19 shooting in the third quarter, but couldn’t cut into the lead, tailing 72-69 at the quarter break. It was a sloppy period—each team turned it over six times. Mike Dunleavy scored six points and Noah grabbed five rebounds for the Bulls, while Ryan Kelly had seven points and Pau Gasol grabbed eight rebounds for the Lakers.
Chicago took the lead late in a back-and-forth fourth period that featured six ties and six lead changes. Leading 93-90 with 7.4 seconds to go after making one of two from the line, Noah fouled Young on a 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds to go. Swaggy P knocked down all three free throws to tie the game and Noah’s seven-footer at the buzzer was off target, sending the game to overtime. D.J. Augustin went off for 11 points in the period and Jimmy Butler scored eight, while Noah dished four assists. Young scored seven points for the Lakers and Gasol added six.
Young tied the game for Los Angeles with six seconds left in overtime, but after a couple of timeouts, the Bulls executed a baseline inbounds play to perfection, with Dunleavy feeling Taj Gibson for the game-winning layup at the buzzer. Augustin had five in overtime for the Bulls while Young scored five points and Gasol had five boards in the extra session.
Overall, Augustin had a season-high 27 points for the Bulls. Noah added 17 points, a season-high 21 rebounds and six assists, Butler had 13 points, 11 rebounds and four steals, Dunleavy and Gibson each scored 12 points, with Dunleavy adding three steals, and Boozer had 11 points. Young led the Lakers with 31 points, while Gasol had 20 points, 19 rebounds, five blocked shots. Meeks scored 16 points and had seven assists and Kelly knocked down 13 points. Kendall Marshall dished eight assists and Robert Sacre blocked three shots.
Los Angeles was 35-for-83 (42.2 percent) overall, 8-for-25 (32 percent) from 3-point land and 22-for-26 (84.6 percent) from the foul line. Chicago was 39-for-102 (38.2 percent), 7-for-21 (33.3 percent) and 17-for-24 (70.8 percent).
The Bulls won the boards 55-47, led in paint scoring 50-38 and second-chance points 16-8, while the Lakers had the edge on the fast break 18-15. The Lakers committed 22 turnovers that turned into 25 Chicago points, while the Bulls gave it away 17 times, leading to 21 L.A. points. The game featured 23 lead changes and 14 ties and neither team ever held a double-digit lead.