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Balanced attack leads Bulls to rout of Suns

Nov 8, 2008 - 5:19 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- For one night at least, the Chicago Bulls looked like the team with the dynamic offense, not the Phoenix Suns.

Ben Gordon scored 23 points as the Bulls used a dominant all-around performance on both ends of the floor to rout the Suns, 100-83, on Friday.

The Suns were without Shaquille O'Neal, who coach Terry Porter said last month would occasionally rest in an attempt to keep the veteran fresh.

Rookie point guard Derrick Rose collected 18 points and six assists as Chicago snapped Phoenix's three-game winning streak.

"I am not schocked because I play against him everyday in practice," Gordon said of Rose's early-season play. "Derrick has the ability to be as good in this league as he wants to be. All he has to do is continue to work hard."

With Rose running the show, Chicago displayed the high-powered offense first-year head coach Vinny Del Negro is hoping to construct. Five players scored in double figures as the Bulls dished out 22 assists and shot 52 percent (40-77).

"We were aggressive and moved the ball well," Rose said. "In this league, you have to play defense to run, when you do play defense you have the ability to run and score."

Gordon led a dominant bench for the Bulls, who outscored the Suns' reserves 50-25, including 29-4 in a first half that saw Chicago open a 14-point halftime edge they would not relinquish.

"We had one of those nights where we caught Phoenix having a flat game," Del Negro said. "This was a nice game for our players. They saw what working hard, playing good defense and crashing the boards can do for you."

Phoenix was unable to get into an offensive rhythm, turning the ball over 12 times in the first half while shooting just 36 percent without grabbing a single offensive rebound.

The lone bright spot was Amare Stoudemire, who collected 26 points and seven rebounds. Rookie Robin Lopez added 14 and seven.

"It was a disappointing night," Porter said. "We just didn't seem to have any fire at at all. Give credit to the Bulls, they got the turnovers and hit the offensive boards a lot harder than we did. That and our 21 turnovers was too big of a hill to climb."

Chicago opened up a 15-point edge early in the second quarter as they opened the session with a 14-1 run and did not look back, leading by as many as 27 points in the second half.

Luol Deng and Tyrus Thomas added 14 points apiece while Joakim Noah grabbed 14 rebounds off the bench for the Bulls, who improved to 3-0 at home and have four games remaining on a five-game homestand.

The 83 points were a season-low for the Suns, who entered the game averaging a league-high 106.4 points a game.