The Chicago Bulls will play the third game of a West Cost swing when they take on the Suns in Phoenix tonight (8:00 p.m. CT | WGN Superstation/ESPN Radio 1000). The Bulls (20-25) have come back from large deficits in their first two games on the seven-game trip but fell short in each, most recently in Oklahoma City. Chicago rallied from 17 points down against the Hornets on Wednesday before taking a 100-95 loss. Darius Songaila's lay-up with 2:42 left gave the Bulls a 90-89 advantage, but the Hornets took the lead for good 20 seconds later. Kirk Hinrich scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half; he added six assists and five rebounds. The Suns (30-16) ended their recent season-high six-game East Coast swing on a good note. Shawn Marion collected 21 points and 12 rebounds and Raja Bell added 18 points as the Suns posted a 102-94 triumph on Wednesday over the slumping Boston Celtics, who got 40 points from Paul Pierce. Steve Nash had 13 points and eight assists for the Suns, who shot 45 percent (39-of-85) and wrapped up a 4-2 road trip. When the teams met earlier this season on New Year's Eve in Chicago, the Suns won a 107-98 decision in overtime behind Marion's game-high 28 points and 16 rebounds. Tune in to watch this evening's game on the WGN Superstation and listen to it on ESPN Radio 1000 (both pregame shows at 7:30). Visit Bulls.com or click here now for a complete preview of this evening's contest. Probable Bulls Starters Guard 12 Kirk Hinrich 6-3 | 190 Guard 7 Ben Gordon 6-3 | 200 Forward 9 Luol Deng 6-9 | 220 Forward 3 Tyson Chandler 7-1 | 235 Center 24 Othella Harrington 6-9 | 235 Probable Suns Starters Guard 13 Steve Nash 6-3 | 195 Guard 19 Raja Bell 6-5 | 210 Forward 3 Boris Diaw 6-8 | 215 Forward 31 Shawn Marion 6-7 | 228 Center 40 Kurt Thomas 6-9 | 235 Injury Report Bulls Eric Piatkowski (left foot inflammation) is questionable. For a full report and the latest on Bulls' injuries, check out the AthletiCo Injury Report at Bulls.com. Suns Amare Stoudemire (left knee surgery) and Brian Grant (right knee surgery) are out. Series Notes With a win in the first of two meetings this season, Phoenix now leads the all-time series 57-56 ... Bulls Head Coach Scott Skiles coached the Suns from 1999-2002 and posted a 116-79 (.595) record ... prior to the Suns' 94-74 road-win over the Bulls on Nov. 9, 2004 Chicago had won three straight games versus Phoenix at the United Center ... since the 1991.92 season, the Bulls are 9-5 against the Suns at the United Center ... the Bulls and Suns have played 10 overtime games with the Bulls winning the first seven and the Suns winning the last three.
got back from football practise at the beginning of the 3rd, probably shoulda stayed at practise. lol. down by 12 - 56 to 68. We were down by 2 at half time.
mike sweetney 7-8(should play him more), chandler 4-4 and gordon 11-15.... these three are the only ones shooting well... hirich 0-6 deng 3-10 nocioni 2-10 songaila 0-5 these guys need to step up gordon cant do it all
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting NYCfinest123:</div><div class="quote_post">mike sweetney 7-8(should play him more), chandler 4-4 and gordon 11-15.... these three are the only ones shooting well... hirich 0-6 deng 3-10 nocioni 2-10 songaila 0-5 these guys need to step up gordon cant do it all</div> Is this "rookie789"? Your posts, and favorite teams/players are identical to his. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">[IMGR]http://www.nba.com/media/BorisDia.jpg300.jpg[/IMGR]Shawn Marion and Steve Nash continue to shine under Mike D'Antoni's run-and-gun style of basketball. Marion registered 26 points and 11 rebounds and Nash added 21 points and seven assists as the Phoenix Suns posted a 118-101 victory over the Chicago Bulls, who received a career-high 39 points from Ben Gordon. Phoenix had six players score in double figures as it shot 48 percent (43-of-89) and drained 17 3-pointers. Raja Bellscored 17 points and James Jones and Eddie House added 14 apiece off the bench. "It's pretty fun when all the balls are going in and everybody is getting touches," said Nash, who won the MVP award under D'Antoni last season. "That's pretty nice and that is what we strive for as a team and those type of moments are memorable over the course of a season." The Bulls trailed, 52-50, at half before the Suns pulled away by scoring a season-best 38 points in the third period, making 14-of-21 shots "We came out and opened the game up on both ends of the floor and that helped us get the win tonight," said Marion, who collected his league-leading 36th double-double. "We opened the game up in the second half, got into a rhythm and started doing what we do best." "Sometimes we hit a stretch where we shoot 60 percent like we did in the third quarter and we came home with it," D'Antoni said. Chicago made just 8-of-24 shots (33 percent) overall in the third quarter. "It wasn't even a quarter," Chicago coach Scott Skiles said. "It was about five or six minutes of them having a lot of energy a lot of life and moving the ball around. They got a bunch of guys who shoot the ball with confidence. They knocked them down and we didn't have much response." The Suns nailed five shots from the arc in the third to open a commanding 90-70 advantage and cruised thereafter. "They just came out and jumped on us and it just carried over for the rest of the game," Gordon said. "A team like that, they have so many good perimeter shooters you can't really make that many defensive mistakes out there on the perimeter, they just shot the heck out of the ball." Gordon was the lone bright spot for the Bulls, connecting on 14-of-21 shots, including a career-high nine 3-pointers. The second-year guard also pulled down eight rebounds and handed out five assists. "I wish we could've done more in the second half to stay in the game," Gordon said. "Points don't really mean anything in a loss. I missed a lot of shots I don't normally miss. (Saturday) I was in a rhythm a lot more and my shots came in rhythm and I wasn't hesitating on any shots. That was probably the major difference." Luol Deng scored 17 points and Mike Sweetney contributed 14 off the bench for Chicago, which shot 44 percent (40-of-90) and fell to 0-3 on their season-high seven-game road trip. The Suns, who returned home from a 4-2 road trip, posted their eighth consecutive home win against the Bulls. "It's important, It's not always easy to come back from that big a trip and you find a lack of energy and enthusiasm," Nash said. "You kind of have a letdown after that much traveling. Needless to say, it was important for us to really come back and we did." Chicago not won here since Nov. 20, 1996 - when Michael Jordan was still playing.</div> <div align="center"><font size=""1""> Recap l Box Score</font></div> More important than his 39 points I think where the rebounds and assists he got. He has really shut up a lot of doubters who said all he could do was score and not much else since becoming a starter. It sucks that we lost, but at the same time it gave us a good look into our future.
