Bulls 97, Jazz 73: Luol Deng finished one assist shy of his first triple-double and Carlos Boozer also posted a double-double as host Chicago kept Utah winless.
Deng collected 19 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists and five steals for the Bulls, who have won six straight against Utah. Boozer added 18 points and 10 rebounds and Joakim Noah chipped in 14 points and eight boards for Chicago, which improved to 2-0 at home.
Gordon Hayward scored 15 points and Derrick Favors and Alec Burks added 10 apiece for the Jazz, who fell to 0-6 - their worst start since losing the first 11 games of their inaugural season in 1974-75. Utah shot 29.4 percent from the floor and committed 17 turnovers.
The Bulls led by 16 in the second quarter but became careless with the ball and allowed Utah to trim the margin to single-digits before Noah's bucket with one second left in the half made it 51-40 at the break. Chicago pushed the lead to 20 by the midway point of the third quarter and coasted to its most-lopsided victory since a 105-75 win at Charlotte on February 22.
Chicago had several chances to get Deng his 10th assist, but Kirk Hinrich and Nazr Mohammed missed jumpers and Mohammed couldn't get a reverse layup to go before Deng went to the bench for the final 6:15 of the blowout.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Bulls outscored the Jazz 56-22 in the paint. … After losing their first two games by three points each, the Jazz have dropped four straight by double digits. … Boozer went 4-for-6 from the foul line, missing for the first time this season after entering the game 13-for-13.
Utah | Chicago | |
Gordon Hayward 15 | Scoring | Luol Deng 19 |
Gordon Hayward 5 | Assists | Luol Deng 9 |
Rudy Gobert 12 | Rebounds | Luol Deng 11 |
Derrick Favors 4 | Free Throws Made | Luol Deng 5 |
Alec Burks 4 | Steals | Luol Deng 5 |
Derrick Favors 1 | Blocks | Carlos Boozer 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Utah | 73 | 29.4 | 7-20 | 16-25 | 18 | 40 | 4 | 13 | 17 |
Chicago | 97 | 52.8 | 3-8 | 18-25 | 26 | 48 | 6 | 12 | 21 |