Deng leads Bulls' charge
By TOM MUSICK – tmusick@nwherald.com
CHICAGO – Bulls forward Luol Deng surveyed the locker room at halftime Tuesday in search of a spark.
The sixth-year veteran settled on himself.
Deng scored 24 points and grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds as the Bulls rallied from an 18-point deficit in the third quarter to beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 83-81. The Bulls (2-2) snapped a two-game losing streak and beat the Bucks (1-2) for the eighth consecutive time at the United Center.
“It was a fortunate win, to be honest with you,” Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We didn’t play well at all in the first half, and at times in the second half I didn’t think we played great, but we gutted it out and found a way to win.”
The Bulls might have showed guts, but Deng’s effort was all heart. He became the first Bulls player to score at least 20 points and pull down at least 20 rebounds since Marcus Fizer scored 30 points to go along with 20 boards on April 12, 2004, against the Orlando Magic.
“At halftime, we were down, and I just felt like we just needed somebody to come out with a lot of energy,” said Deng, who logged marathon workout sessions this summer after an injury-ridden season. “In terms of rebounding, I don’t know. I just kept going to the ball, and the ball was coming to me.”
Bucks coach Scott Skiles diverted from criticizing his team to compliment his former player.
“We got physically dominated by Deng tonight,” Skiles said. “We just couldn’t do anything with him.”
For most of the first half, it was the Bulls who couldn’t do anything. They made 10 of 37 shots and committed 12 turnovers to earn a 43-29 deficit at the half.
“That was embarrassing in the first half,” said Bulls center Brad Miller, who scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds off the bench. “I’m sure the fans thought the same. They paid to come see us play, and we just didn’t give any effort.”
The Bucks extended their lead to 18 points with 5:39 to go in the third quarter before the Bulls came to life. Deng moved from small forward to power forward during an 18-4 run that cut the Bucks’ lead to four points by the end of the third quarter.
“We tried to spread it out a little bit,” said Del Negro, who was without power forward Tyrus Thomas because of flu-like symptoms. “We put the ball in Derrick [Rose]’s hands so he could try to create with Brad [Miller] or Joakim [Noah] if he was in. We started attacking.”
Rose scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter to help lift the Bulls to a comeback win. Rose and Kirk Hinrich registered key defensive stops in the game’s final minutes, and Bucks forward Ersan Ilyasova fired an airball over Deng’s head on the game’s final shot.
The Bulls shot 51.4 percent in the second half after shooting 27 percent in the first half.
“Sometimes it takes awhile for a team to find out who they really are,” Deng said. “Games like this are going to happen. It’s good that it’s happening earlier in the season, and we picked it up and got the win. It’s an ugly win, but I think it’s good for the team.”
Del Negro said the Bulls still needed to improve.
“We have to play faster,” Del Negro said. “We have to get some type of consistent pace to our game.”
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