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Bulls put spell on Wizards

Mar 1, 2011 - 5:21 AM Washington, DC (Sports Network) - Derrick Rose scored 21 points, dished out nine assists and pulled down five rebounds, as the Chicago Bulls dominated the Washington Wizards, 105-77.

Luol Deng added 21 points and five boards for the Bulls, who have won three in a row and 13 of 16 overall.

Joakim Noah tallied 19 points and 11 rebounds for Chicago, which got 12 points and 10 boards from Carlos Boozer.

"He's back, almost to the point he was at before the injury. His activity is off the charts. His defense is terrific, his rebounding is very good, and you can see he's starting to get a lot more comfortable offensively," Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau said of Noah.

Andray Blatche finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Wizards, who have dropped six straight. Nick Young and Josh Howard added 14 and 10 points, respectively.

The Bulls, who led 25-20 following 12 minutes of action, started to pull away early in the second quarter. Holding a 27-25 edge, Chicago ripped off eight straight points. Omer Asik's slam with over 7 1/2 minutes left made it a 35-25 contest.

Deng made a three-pointer prior to the half ending to give the Bulls a 50-37 advantage.

Holding a 59-48 lead with over eight minutes to go in the third, Chicago put the game away with a 19-6 run. Rose tallied nine points during the surge, which Deng capped with a slam to make it 78-54. It was 78-57 heading to the fourth.

The Wizards never got closer than 16 in the fourth.

"That first five minutes they were getting every rebound, knocking us all over the place, blocking every one of our shots and so they kind of reached in right from the beginning and took over the physicality of the game," Wizards head coach Flip Saunders said.

Game Notes

Chicago has defeated the Wizards three times already this season, four times in a row and is 8-2 over the last 10 matchups between the teams...The Bulls have won six of their last eight contests at Washington...The Wizards were without forward Al Thornton (ankle)...Kyle Korver had 11 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Bulls, who shot 48.1 percent from the field...Chicago outrebounded Washington, 56-39...The Bulls (41-17) have already matched their win total from last season's 41-41 team.