The AP reports:
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Derrick Rose scored 33 points, Taj Gibson scored all of his 11 in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 95-83 in Game 5 on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead.
Luol Deng added 23 points and Chicago let out a big sigh of relief…
Rose showed why he is the league’s youngest MVP, hitting 11 of 24 shots and finishing with nine assists. It was a big improvement over Game 4 when he needed 32 shots to score 34 points, and he was particularly effective down the stretch, attacking the rim.
“He made unbelievable plays. He exploded off the pick and roll,” Atlanta’s Josh Smith said.
Jeff Teague was big again for the Hawks in place of the injured Kirk Hinrich, scoring 21 for the third time in this series, but Atlanta came up short in the end.
Smith contributed 16 points. Joe Johnson scored 15, Zaza Pachulia finished with 13 points and Al Horford added 12 points and 10 rebounds. But Jamal Crawford scored just two points on 1-of-9 shooting…
Things got particularly tense after a two-handed dunk by Smith cut Chicago’s lead to 61-60 with just over 4 minutes left in the period. He hung on the rim and Carlos Boozer gave him a forearm to the face, leading to a retaliatory shove from Smith and technical fouls for both players.
Live fan discussion of the game took place in this forum topic.
