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Gordon, Rose spark Bulls past Nets

Dec 14, 2008 - 5:28 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Ben Gordon scored 29 points and Derrick Rose added 22 to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 113-104 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Saturday.

Chicago trailed by five entering the fourth quarter but outscored New Jersey, 38-24, over the final 12 minutes to win for the third time in four games.

Tyrus Thomas scored 16 points off the bench and Luol Deng chipped in 14 for the Bulls.

"We have our roles on this team and we need to play them," Thomas said. "I try to play hard but sometimes things just don't go your way and you get frustrated. We all played hard tonight and we got a win."

Vince Carter scored 39 points and Devin Harris added 22 for the Nets, who dropped to 9-2 when scoring 100 or more points this season.

"Vince Carter was alot better than last night. They were aggressive early and took control of the game," Chicago coach Vinny Del Negro said. "But then our guys dug in and we pulled it out. Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah were big off the bench."

Carter hit a 3-pointer to give the Nets a 96-93 lead with 3:35 to go. Rose answered with a three to tie and Gordon drilled a shot from the arc to put the Bulls ahead 99-96.

Rose scored nine of his points in the fourth quarter and the Bulls used a huge surge in the second half to improve to 8-3 at home.

"I just take what they give me and they starting backing off me so I started taking my jump shot," Rose said.

Chicago outscored New Jersey, 63-44, in the second half, including a 12-2 run early in the fourth that turned a seven-point deficit into an 87-84 lead.

"We turned it up on the defense," Gordon said. "We lost last night when we should have won, so we did not want to get beat on our home court."

Helping spark the Bulls' comeback was the play of their bench, which outscored the Nets' reserves, 37-12. Along with Thomas' contribution, Chicago got 10 points, seven points, eight rebounds and three blocks from Larry Hughes.

"In the first half their bench gave them a huge lift," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "The second half we had a lull in that bridge time between the third and fourth quarters. At that point we had a tough time scoring and getting stops."

Carter bounced back from an 0-of-13 shooting performance against Toronto on Friday by hitting 11-of-22 from the field. Carter was also 14-of-14 from the line and drained a 3-pointer from halfcourt to end the first half, but the Nets still lost their third straight.

"Vince bounced back no doubt about it. Vince is an elite player," Frank said. "Last night was just an aberration. We are just concerned that we lost tonight."

"This game was not about me, we just needed to get a win and we did not do that," Carter said. "We wanted to bounced back from last night we got beat by 30."