The Bulls hope to add to the New Jersey Nets' recent struggles while keeping their playoff hopes alive when the teams meet tonight at the United Center (7:30 p.m. CT | CSN/ESPN Radio 1000). Chicago (26-33) recently dropped both contests in a home-and-away series against Cleveland, rallying from 25 points down only to lose 92-91 at the United Center on Thursday and then allowing LeBron James to score 16 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter in a 91-72 road loss on Sunday. Ben Gordon scored 17 points and Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich each chipped in 15. Deng also had 12 rebounds for the Bulls, who are three games behind Milwaukee for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The Nets (32-27) have dropped four of their last five games, including their most lopsided home loss of the season, a 109-84 defeat to Sacramento on Monday. Vince Carter scored 21 points and Jason Kidd collected 10 points and 11 assists for New Jersey, which has surrendered at least 100 points in each of the last five games. However, the Nets have won the last eight meetings against the Bulls, including a 100-99 home victory on Nov. 5. Tune in to watch this evening's game on Comcast SportsNet Chicago or listen to it on ESPN Radio 1000 (both pregame shows at 7:00). 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 5 Andres Nocioni 6-7 | 225 Center 3 Tyson Chandler 7-1 | 235 Probable Nets Starters Guard 5 Jason Kidd 6-4 | 210 Guard 15 Vince Carter 6-6 | 220 Forward 24 Richard Jefferson 6-7 | 225 Forward 35 Jason Collins 7-0 | 255 Center 12 Nenad Krstic 7-0 | 255 Injury Report Bulls Malik Allen (sprained neck) is questionable. For a full report and the latest on Bulls' injuries, check out the AthletiCo Injury Report at Bulls.com. Nets Jeff McInnis (torn cartilage, left knee) is out. Series Notes The Nets have swept the Bulls in each of the last two seasons and in three of the last four seasons ... the Bulls defeated the Nets on April 11, 2003 in a 95-86 win at the United Center ... Chicago's last victory at Continental Airlines Arena was on April 17, 2001, a 100-94 triumph led by A.J. Guyton's 24 points and Elton Brand's 12 rebounds.
Looking great so far up 18-7 early. The Nets are getting run out of the building. Allen is back, and has hit a nice turn around jumper. Tyson Chandler picked up a stupid foul. Ben Gordon is off to a nice start. Hopefully we can keep up this intensity for 48 minutes. Luke is in the game!
Luol Deng has more total points than the entire Nets team. The Nets are 30 seconds away from being held under double digit points for the quarter.
Nice quarter for the Bulls - Deng mostly. Keep it up. Unfortunately I won't be around until the game is over. GO BULLS!!
Looks like it’s going to be another close ending. Bulls are up by three right now with about six minutes left. The score is now 80-75 Bulls just scored another bucket.
Didn't get to catch the game until now because I had awards night at school. Krystic for the Nets is having a huge night. Noc with 24 points, 4-6 from 3 point. You guys said Gordon started hot, hasn't really done much since then. Bulls leading by 10 with a minute left.
Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni had monster nights. Nocioni had a incredible up and under shot where he made Kristec bite hard, and got an easy layup. Then he just posterized Antonio Wright on a fast break dunk. Deng kind of cooled down towards the end, but he had a great shooting night. Good win now 2 1/2 behind the Bucks this was a win we needed with the Pistons coming to town soon.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">[IMGR]http://www.nba.com/media/bulls/LuolDeng_300_060307.jpg[/IMGR]By being aggressive, Chicago Bulls forward Andres Nocioni delivered a late blow to the New Jersey Nets. Nocioni scored a career-high 24 points and led a fourth-quarter surge as the Bulls ended their woes against the Nets with a 95-87 victory. After taking just seven shots and scoring just two points in his previous two games, Nocioni was much more active Tuesday. The Argentine made 9-of-14 shots and four of the Bulls' 10 3-pointers. "Nocioni brings a lot to our group in general," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "Sometimes he gets very uptight when he plays, but tonight I thought he played much more relaxed. He is very valuable to us when he plays like this." Nocioni's dunk with 6:01 remaining sparked a decisive 11-4 surge that gave the Bulls an 89-79 lead with 74 seconds to go. He added two jumpers in the burst and scored nine points in the fourth quarter. "His (Nocioni) energy and intensity causes problems for other teams," Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich said. "When he does that it goes a long way for this team." Nocioni was not feeling well and left without speaking to the media. Hinrich and Luol Deng scored 22 points apiece for the Bulls, who stopped an eight-game losing streak against the Nets. "Finishing out games and finishing out teams is something we need to improve on," Hinrich said. "It starts by finishing out quarters and we did a good job of that tonight." The trio of Nocioni, Hinrich and Deng were the only players to reach double figures for Chicago (27-33), which trails Milwaukee by 2 1/2 games for the Eastern Conference's final playoff berth. "We feel like they are all must games now," Skiles said. "We have to put together a string of wins, but that will be tough to do." In losing for the fifth time in six games, the Nets started and finished poorly. New Jersey missed 17 of its first 20 shots to fall behind by double digits, then misfired on 15 of its first 18 attempts in the fourth quarter, when Chicago took control. "We are a better team than this," said Nets forward Richard Jefferson, who scored 16 points. "We just had a couple of stretches where we are struggling, every team goes through that." Nenad Krstic scored a career-high 29 points and Vince Carter added 25 for New Jersey (32-28), which had its lead in the Atlantic Division over Philadelphia reduced to 1 1/2 games. "We lost, so what can you say?" said Krstic, who made 13-of-20 shots. "So it doesn't matter that I got a career high." After a dismal first quarter in which they scored just 12 points, the Nets shot 83 percent (15-of-18) in the second period to take a 44-42 lead into the break. "We fought hard to get back in the game," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said. "We were up two at the half, and then the last six minutes we just couldn't do it." </div> <div align="center">Recap l Box Score</div>
