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Britain’s Luol Deng scored 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to help power the injury-depleted Chicago Bulls to a 93-76 rout of the Atlanta Hawks in an NBA game on Saturday. |
Chicago’s defence kept the Hawks to only 16 points in each of the final two quarters, Atlanta hitting only 39 percent from the field, as the Bulls improved to 29-18 and remained ahead of Indiana atop the Central division.
Nate Robinson contributed 20 points and a game-high eight assists while Taj Gibson, starting in place of injured Carlos Boozer, scored 19 points and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds while Jimmy Butler
contributed 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Robinson was starting for guard Kirk Hinrich, who has an infected right elbow. Boozer is sidelined with a sore right hamstring while standout Joakim Noah has been sidelined with a sore right foot.
And that does not even consider Derrick Rose, still absent after a knee injury suffered in the first game of last season’s playoffs.
The Hawks, led by 19 points and 13 rebounds from Josh Smith, slid to 26-20, falling further behind Southeast division leader and defending NBA champion Miami.
Carlisle fined for criticizing refs
Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle has been fined $25,000 by the NBA for public criticism of officiating, the league announced on Saturday. The punishment came for comments made by Carlisle after the Mavericks lost 100-97 at Golden State on Thursday, what had been their third loss in four games.
Dallas also played the game without injured German star Dirk Nowitzki and centre Chris Kaman. Carlisle’s comments also came in the wake of an NBA statement on Wednesday that said officials botched a late-game call that went against Dallas and could have cost the Mavericks the game in a Tuesday loss to
Portland.
Dallas guard O J Mayo was whistled for a charging foul with 1.5 seconds remainin when, the league said, a replay ruled that Portland’s Ronnie Price should have been called for a blocking foul and Mayo awarded two free throws.