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Rose, Bulls dump Warriors, snag first road win

Nov 22, 2008 - 7:40 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- In the midst of their annual circus trip, the Chicago Bulls finally won a road game.

All five Bulls starters scored in double figures, led by former Warrior Larry Hughes with 26 points, as Chicago claimed a 115-110 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night - their first victory away from home in six tries.

"For us they're all big, especially from the standpoint of all of our injuries we're trying to deal with," Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro said. "The last two games, with the length of L.A. (Lakers) and the length of Portland, really gave us a lot of trouble and to come in here a little bit shorthanded and find a way to win, it's a great compliment to the players."

Derrick Rose took control in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of his 25 points in the final frame.

"We really needed this one. We thought we could come in here and compete against them and that's what we did," Rose said. "I had to shoot and that's what I did, I stopped thinking about what I did and reacted to it."

But while the star rookie carried the team, his teammates had to hang on without him.

Rose left the floor late in the fourth with an undisclosed injury after landing awkwardly under the basket with less than two minutes to play.

"It happened when Corey Maggette drove to the hole, and knocked Larry out of the way and kneed me in my hip," Rose said. "Man, it was a sharp pain that was there for a long time, but I'm all right now. I've just got to ice it and massage it tomorrow."

The Bulls were already shorthanded, as Luol Deng is out with a sore left groin and Kirk Hinrich is out three months with a torn thumb ligament.

Chicago improved to 1-5 on the road on its season-long, seven-game trip as the circus occupies its home at the United Center.

"We were a little shorthanded without Luol, Kirk and the list goes on, but Larry gave us a big boost and so did everybody," Del Negro said. "Derrick obviously had a fantastic second half, really took control of the game, I talked about that with him at halftime and he really performed well. For us to bounce back the way we did, after the last couple of games, I'm really happy for our guys."

The Warriors failed to increase their winning streak to three games despite a season-high 32 points from Stephen Jackson. Corey Maggette added 24 points and center Andris Biedrins had 23 and 10 rebounds.

"I think overall our team played really well, we played hard," Maggette said. "We did a lot of good things to give us the opportunity to win the game. The young guy, Derrick Rose ... made some big plays. We've just got to learn from this and we've got some big games ahead of us on the road."

The Warriors made big news before the game when they traded disgruntled forward Al Harrington to the Knicks in exchange for veteran guard Jamal Crawford. Crawford will join the club when it heads to the East Coast for a five-game trip. In fact, Golden State is on the road for seven of its next eight games.

"The good thing about him is he's a veteran, he's been around for a while," Warriors guard Stephen Jackson said. "He's a great scorer and, in our system, it will be good for him. It will be good to see what he can do and it will be good for me to get back to my natural position because he can play the point and handle the ball."

Hughes tied the game at 90-90 with 10:20 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Bulls went up by four after a left handed running layup by Lindsay Hunter with 8:42 remaining. Hunter nailed a 3-pointer with 6:48 remaining to push the lead to 101-95.

The lead was up to eight points after Rose's one-handed dunk two minutes later.

Jackson completed a three-point play to pull Golden State to within five at the 4:49 mark.

It was only a three-point game after Andris Biedrins' tip-in, but Rose quieted the crowd moments later with a baseline jumper to regain a five-point edge, 109-104.

"I knew I could hit the shots," Rose said. "They were giving it to me and my teammates wanted me to shoot the ball and that's what I did."

With just under 30 seconds remaining and the Bulls leading by three, Chicago guard Ben Gordon committed an offensive foul on Randolph. The 6-10 rookie had a chance to make it a one-point game, but he blew a wide-open dunk and that was the ballgame.

Drew Gooden collected 18 points and 16 boards for the Bulls while Gordon added 13 points.

"This was a game that could've took our confidence, could have been a big blow to our trip," Gooden said. "We gained some confidence back and we're ready for our next opponent. It's tough but we've got to do it. We feel like, home or away, the game of basketball is still played the same."