Morning Box Score: Gasol's Career Night Lifts Bulls

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jan 11, 2015 4:00PM

Image via Bulls.com

Bulls 95, Milwaukee 87
Pau Gasol has been worth every penny of the contract he signed with the Bulls in the offseason. And then some. The team's offense struggled in back-to-back losses to Utah and Washington but Gasol rose to the occasion against the Bucks at the United Center and turned in a defining performance that served notice Chicago may be the team to beat in the Eastern Conference.

Gasol scored a career-high 46 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to overcome the team's continued shooting woes, while clamping down on defense to control most of the game. Gasol has 20 double doubles in 35 games this season.

Chicago jumped out to a 29-19 first quarter lead and led by as many as 13 points before Milwaukee closed the gap in the late moments to make the game seem closer than it was. Kirk Hinrich, starting in place of Derrick Rose, scored 16 points while Jimmy Butler played facilitator and had 10assists to go with nine points. Milwaukee was led by Brandon Knight's 20 points.