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Bulls blow past Nets in Rose's return

Jan 24, 2012 - 5:24 AM Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - Derrick Rose returned to score 22 points with eight assists and five rebounds Monday as the Chicago Bulls topped the New Jersey Nets, 110-95, at United Center.

The Bulls got a lift from Rose, who missed the last four games with a left big toe sprain. Joakim Noah also returned from injury after missing the previous game with a left ankle sprain and added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

"To miss as much time as he did and to come out and play the way that he did says a lot about him", said coach Tom Thibodeau about Rose's return.

Richard Hamilton tied Rose for the team lead in points, recording a double- double with 22 points and 10 assists. Hamilton also scored his 15,000th career point in the first quarter of the victory.

"I think I owe it to all my great teammates that I've played with in my whole career," Hamilton said. "All the bigs setting screens and things like that. I think I need to take them all out to eat."

The Bulls are an NBA-best 16-3 and have won nine of their last 10, including four in a row. They moved to 8-0 at United Center this season.

Jordan Farmar led the Nets in scoring, dropping 22 points off the bench on 3- of-3 shooting from behind the arc. Deron Williams chipped in with a double- double, adding 16 points to go along with 10 assists. Anthony Morrow, who started in place of the injured MarShon Brooks, had 15 points in the loss.

New Jersey finished up the third game of a back-to-back-to-back, going 1-2. The Nets are 5-13 this season and 3-8 on the road.

"We knew it was going to be a tough one, and they had everybody back in the lineup. You can just tell this is a contender," Williams said. "So, I thought we played well in spots, and we also played bad in spots."

The grind of three games in three nights plagued the Nets as the Bulls jumped all over them early, getting out to a 28-18 lead by the end of the first quarter. Ronnie Brewer, starting for the injured Luol Deng, made his presence felt by scoring nine of his 11 points in the first quarter.

Chicago stayed hot in the second, shooting over 73 percent from the field and stretched its lead to 59-43 going into halftime.

The Chicago offense was too much for the Nets to handle as all five starters scored in double figures including Carlos Boozer, who finished with 14 points and nine boards.

All together the Bulls had six players in double figures with Omer Asik adding 10 points off the bench.

Williams got going for the Nets, scoring six of his team's 25 third quarter points and handing out three assists but they were unable to cut into the Bulls lead and they trailed 85-68 entering the final stanza.

Game Notes

Deng missed his first game this year with a sprained left wrist...Hamilton is the 120th player in NBA history with 15,000 career points...The Bulls shot 57.3 percent from the field and outrebounded the Nets 43-32, moving the Nets to 0-11 when being outrebounded by their opponent.