CHICAGO (AP) — With Carlos Boozer back in the lineup, the Chicago Bulls feel like they are ready to move into the elite of the Eastern Conference.
The Orlando Magic showed why they're already there.
Jameer Nelson scored 24 points and the Magic
dominated the paint and cruised to a 107-78 victory over Chicago on Wednesday
night, spoiling the Bulls debut of Boozer.
"We just wanted to bring a lot of
intensity," Nelson said. "Tonight we brought it from jump ball to the
end."
Nelson got no argument from Bulls coach Tom
Thibodeau.
"They outplayed us in every facet of the
game," Thibodeau said.
Boozer played his first game of the season after
missing all of Chicago's preseason games plus the first 15 of the regular
season after breaking the fifth metatarsal in his right hand in an accident at
his home on Oct. 2.
"We got beat, bad," Boozer said. "I
think our team (is) a lot better than we showed tonight. We're going to move
forward."
On the bright side, Boozer said his hand wasn't a
problem.
"My hand felt great," he said. "I
went up and down. The first six minutes, the game felt much faster than
practice, but I settled myself down a little bit.
"I think it's a starting point and it only
gets better from here."
He looked like a player who hadn't played in a
while. Tentative most of the game, Boozer finished with five points and two
rebounds in 22 minutes, shooting 2 for 5 from the floor.
"That is to be expected," Thibodeau said
of Boozer's rust. "I saw some good and not so good. I like his energy. He
can only get better."
The Bulls have been playing well lately, but
Thibodeau wasn't willing to chalk up the loss to Boozer's return.
"We don't want to make any excuses,"
Thibodeau said. "The way we started the game led to our demise. We gave
them too many easy second-chance opportunities."
Vince Carter scored 22 points for Orlando, Brandon
Bass had 17 off the bench and Nelson added nine assists.
Joakim Noah led Chicago with 16 points in 25
minutes, but failed to grab a rebound. Noah entered the contest as the NBA's
second-leading rebounder with 13.2 per game.
"We were not reacting the way we should,"
Thibodeau said. "We have to fight a lot harder."
Noah hadn't gone an entire game without a rebound
since Dec. 27, 2008, a contest in which he played just six minutes. In games in
which Noah has played eight or more minutes, he'd never gone without a rebound.
"It's frustrating," Noah said.
"That's my job, to rebound the basketball, and I wasn't able to do that
tonight."
Derrick Rose added 15 points in 32 minutes for the
Bulls and said the adjustment period should have been expected with Boozer
coming into the mix.
"I knew it wouldn't be anything pretty,"
he said. "When we get our connections going, I think we should be all
right."
Carter scored 20 points during the first half. The
Magic finished with a 44-21 edge in rebounding, a 27-13 advantage in
second-chance points and outscored Chicago 46-26 in the paint. The Bulls
entered the game third in the NBA in rebounding percentage.
The Bulls' 21 rebounds established a new franchise
low for a single game. The previous low was 25 boards against Miami on Feb. 18,
2002.
Dwight Howard scored 13 points for Orlando and
grabbed 12 rebounds.
"Coach has really been getting on us lately on
rebounding," Howard said. "I think we did a good job tonight boxing
out and everybody hitting somebody."
The primary "somebody" that Howard hit
turned out Noah.
"I tried to do a pretty good job on
Noah," Howard said. "He's playing great for one, but he's also
rebounding at a very high level."
Orlando led by as many as 25 points in the first
half and it was never close from there. The fourth quarter played out with
mostly with reserves on the floor, a letdown for the sellout crowd of 21,435 in
Chicago's first game at the United Center since Nov. 13. The game ended to the
sound of boos.
The Bulls (9-7) last played on Saturday, a 96-85
win over Sacramento that completed a seven-game road trip during which Chicago
went 4-3, and should have been well rested. Instead, it was the Magic with the
fresh-looking legs.
The Magic played at Orlando on Tuesday and despite
the short rest — and a virus going around the team that had forward Mickael
Pietrus vomiting in the hallway at one point in the first half — Orlando had
little trouble in raising its Eastern Conference-best record to 14-4.
"For a lot of reasons I thought this was our
best game of the year," said Orlando coach Stan Van Gundy. "One of
them was to take the team that's leading in rebound margin and dominate on the
glass. We're a pretty good rebounding team."
Orlando has won five straight games overall. The
Magic entered the game tied with the Boston Celtics for the best record in the
Eastern Conference.
Copyright
2010 The Associated Press.
