Morning Box Score: Bulls Sting Hornets, Blackhawks Blanked in Shootout

By Chuck Sudo in News on Feb 13, 2011 3:00PM

After stumbling on the road against Golden State and Portland. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau had his team re-emphasize the tight defense that is a major reason they have the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. With last night's 97-88 win over the New Orleans Hornets in the Big Easy, the Bulls finished five-game road trip with a 3-2 record. The difference was the defense, which clamped down on the Hornets after New Orleans took a 53-42 lead into halftime. The Bulls slowly clawed their way back into the game with a 30-21 third period before shutting down New Orleans with a 25-14 final period. The Bulls outscored the Hornets 55-35 in the second half. Derrick Rose led the Bulls with 23 points and 6 assists while thoroughly dominating his one-on-one matchup with Hornets point guard Chris Paul. The Bulls return home to the United Center for a Tuesday matchup with the Charlotte Bobcats, a team tha has had the Bulls' number this season.

The Blackhawks dragged their collective carcass into Phoenix for a game against the Coyotes, the Stanley Cup championship further in the distance. As has been the Hawks' wont lately, they lost another shootout to the Coyotes 3-2. Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov was the hero late, stopping a Patrick Kane breakaway in the overtime period and a Jonathan Toews shot during the shootout. It was expected that, given the salary cap decisions the Hawks had to make in the offseason, they would not be the same team. But they aren't even playing end-to-end with passion or toughness right now.