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Bulls use strong second half to down Kings

Feb 11, 2015 - 5:04 AM Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - Pau Gasol registered 26 points with 16 rebounds to help the Chicago Bulls in a 104-86 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.

Tony Snell contributed a career-high 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting and Derrick Rose deposited 23 points with seven assists for Chicago, which has won three straight entering a divisional matchup against Cleveland on Thursday to close out the first half of the season.

"I felt good," Snell said. "It's all credit to my teammates."

The Bulls' leading scoring, Jimmy Butler, did not return to the game after halftime due to a strained right shoulder. He finished with five points on 2- of-8 shooting. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said in his postgame press conference that Butler will receive an MRI on Wednesday.

Sacramento has lost four of its last five and will travel to Milwaukee on Wednesday before it breaks for All-Star Weekend.

The game against the Bucks might be Tyrone Corbin's last as Kings head coach. According to reports, Sacramento is ironing out the kinks of a four-year contract for veteran coach George Karl, who is expected to roam the Kings' sidelines after the break. Corbin was named coach when Michael Malone was unexpectedly fired in December.

Rudy Gay went for 24 points and DeMarcus Cousins had 15 points with eight rebounds and eight assists in the loss.

Snell hit a pair of 3-pointers during a 10-3 run that gave Chicago a 30-21 lead late in the first.

"I think the last couple of games, the way we have started the game was good," Thibodeau said.

Sacramento then bridged the first and second quarters with a 7-0 run to pull within two. Nikola Mirotic capped a 14-5 spurt for the Bulls with a trey that stretched the lead to 44-33. The Kings used another 7-0 run to cut into the deficit, but they trailed 57-49 at the break because of Rose's personal 8-3 run to close out the final minute.

"The first half we were down eight, but we were going shot for shot a long time," said Gay. "In that second half they turned up their offense a little more."

Snell, who scored 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the first half, picked up right where he left off in third quarter in place of Butler, netting five points during a 9-2 run for Chicago.

"He had a great rhythm," Thibodeau said of Snell. "When Jimmy (Butler) went down, Rudy Gay is a not an easy guy to guard. I thought he played tremendous on both sides of the ball."

Sacramento was limited to just four points over the first 7:33 of the third as the Bulls' lead swelled to 23. Chicago led 84-64 entering the fourth and coasted to the finish.

Game Notes

Gasol shot 11-of-15 from the floor in his 13th straight double-double ... Chicago has won five straight over the Kings at United Center. The last Sacramento win in the Windy City came on Dec. 21, 2009 ... No players other than Gasol, Rose and Snell scored in double figures for the Bulls ... Ben McLemore and Ray McCallum each had 11 points in the setback ... The Kings shot 2-of-12 from beyond the arc ... Chicago, which committed just seven turnovers, scored 15 points off 13 Sacramento giveaways.