Bulls come through in clutch
Double-double for Noah as Chicago advances to face Heat in semis
NEW YORK— Joakim Noah had 24 points and14 rebounds, Marco Belinelli also scored 24 points and the Chicago Bulls beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-93 on Saturday night in Game 7 of their first-round series.
Carlos Boozer added 17 points as the Bulls shook off injuries to two starters and every run the Nets tried to make in the second half to win a Game 7 on the road for the first time in franchise history. They advanced to a second-round series against defending champion Miami that starts Monday night.
The Bulls opened a 17-point halftime lead with a rare offensive outburst, and found a way to get big baskets every time the Nets pulled close to win the NBA’s only do-ordie game of the first round.
“I thought our guys, we took a big punch in Game 1 and we kept fighting back and that’s been the story of the season,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.
Deron Williams had 24 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Nets.
They were trying to become the ninth NBA team to win a series after trailing 3-1.
But they had a horrendous firsthalf defensive performance and Joe Johnson was bad all game on offence, finishing with six points on 2-of-14 shooting, including 1 of 9 from three-point range.
With Luol Deng (illness) and Kirk Hinrich (bruised left calf ) out again, the Bulls leaned on Noah, who could barely play when the series started but logged 41 minutes and shot 12 of 17, then still had enough energy to climb over the baseline seats for a long embrace with his mother.
Noah, who grew up and played in high school here, helped the Bulls spoil the Nets’ first home Game 7 in franchise history at the end of their first season in Brooklyn. They had played only one Game 7 in all their years while they were based in New Jersey, falling at Detroit in 2004.
Chicago improved to 1-6 in road Game 7s.
“I think we weren’t as aggressive as they were, especially on the boards and the defensive end in the first half,” Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said.
Deng, tested for meningitis earlier in the week, was back in the hospital Friday night and unable to travel. Hinrich warmed up in hopes of playing before he was ruled out. It didn’t matter to the Bulls, who backed up Thibodeau’s vow that they would have no excuses and play well. Coming out ready to work, the Bulls got their first two baskets on offensive rebounds by Boozer and Noah, and they led most of the first quarter before bringing a 29-25 lead to the second on Taj Gibson’s jumper with 0.8 seconds left. It was 40-36 before the Bulls took control with solid offensive execu- tion and poor Nets defence. Noah had consecutive baskets before seldom-used Daequan Cook made a three-pointer to cap an11-2 run, and after a basket by Andray Blatche, Boozer, Robinson and Noah ran off the next six points to give Chicago a 57-40 lead as the crowd began to boo. The Bulls capped it with a stunningly easy dunk by Boozer with 1.2 seconds left off an inbounds pass, sending the Bulls to the locker room with a 61-44 advantage.