Ice-cold Suns lose second straight sans Dragic
CHICAGO (AP) — Pau Gasol had 22 points and 14 rebounds and the Chicago Bulls beat the revamped Phoenix Suns 112-107 on Saturday night for their fifth victory in six games.
Jimmy Butler added 19 points, Derrick Rose had 16, Mike Dunleavy Jr. 15, and Taj Gibson and Aaron Brooks came on strong in the fourth quarter to finish with 12 points apiece.
P.J. Tucker led Phoenix with 20 points. Marcus Morris scored 17 points. Eric Bledsoe had 13, and so did Brandon Knight in his Suns debut, but Phoenix lost for the seventh time in eight games despite shooting over 53 percent.
The Suns cut it to 106-104 on Bledsoe's layup with 49.8 seconds left following a bad bounce pass by Joakim Noah to a cutting Rose that led to a steal by Tucker. But Gasol answered with a driving hook that bumped the lead to four.
Markieff Morris then buried a 3 that pulled Phoenix to 108-107 with 25.9 seconds remaining. Rose hit two free throws after Marcus Morris got called for a foul with 15.5 seconds left. After Bledsoe missed a pullup 3, Butler made two more foul shots and the Bulls came away with the win after falling the previous night at Detroit.
Gibson and Brooks keyed a 10-point run early in the fourth that wiped out a four-point deficit and scored 10 and eight points, respectively, in the quarter.
The Bulls were trailing 85-81 early in the fourth when Gibson hit a jumper and threw down an alley-oop feed from Noah. Brooks, who missed 7 of 8 shots through the first three quarters, then found the found the touch, igniting the crowd with back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 91-85 with 8:44 remaining.
Another 3 by Tony Snell made it 96-89 and Brooks' driving layup boosted the lead to nine midway through the fourth.
For the Suns, the loss comes on the heels of a major shakeup Thursday at the trade deadline. That was brought on by Goran Dragic insisting he would sign elsewhere in the offseason.
Phoenix dealt Dragic and brother Zoran to Miami; Isaiah Thomas to Boston; and Tyler Ennis and Miles Plumlee to Milwaukee. Besides Knight, the Suns got Marcus Thornton from Boston. They joined the team Saturday after missing Friday night's loss at Minnesota.
TIP-INS
Suns: Coach Jeff Hornacek said the Suns were surprised by the bad ending with Dragic, who on Wednesday told reporters that he no longer trusted management and was leaving after the season. "When he went to All-Star break and sat with his agent or whatever he did, all of a sudden it seemed a different tone," Hornacek said. ... Phoenix signed Earl Barron to a 10-day contract and waived G Kendall Marshall and F John Salmons.
Bulls: G Kirk Hinrich was sick and sat out the game.