Chicago Bulls 102 Sacramento Kings 99

It took two defensive stops that resulted in Dwayne Wade steals for the Chicago Bulls to break there two game losing streak beating the Sacramento Kings 102-99. The win improved the Bulls record to 22-23 on the season while the Kings dropped to 16-27 with the loss.

It was a tight first quarter as the biggest lead either team could get was four points which the Bulls did twice. The Bulls last four point lead was 19-15 with 1:45 left in the quarter, but the Kings scored six of the next eight points to tie the game at 21 all. Jimmy Butler completed a three point play to end the quarter and give the Bulls a 24-21 lead.

The Bulls scored the first five points of the second quarter to take a eight point lead at 29-21. Sacramento went on a 13 to 5 run to take the lead at 34-32. The game was tied six times through the rest of the quarter and neither team could get a lead bigger than four points. With the game tied at 52 all Jimmy Butler was fouled on a three point shot with :01 left. Butler made all three free throws to give the Bulls a 55-52 lead at halftime.

The Kings went to the lead in the 3rd quarter and built that lead to seven points at 70-63 with 5:39 left after DeMarcus Cousins hit a jump shot. The Bulls went on a 10 to 3 run to tie the game at 73 with 2:24 left in the quarter. After Jimmy Butler made a lay up to give the Bulls at two point lead at 75-73 with 1:40 left in the quarter the teams combined to miss the seven final shots of the quarter. So the Bulls took that 75-73 lead into the final quarter.

Sacramento was able to go right back to the lead at the start of the 4th quarter and after Ty Lawson hit a short jump shot the Kings had a five point lead at 82-77. The teams hit another stretch of no scoring as they combined to miss nine shots and two free throws before Dwayne Wade ended the drought by making the second of two free throws with 8:27 ;left to play. That free throw was the start of a 9 to 2 run that saw the Bulls tie the game at 86 all. The teams traded the lead five times down the stretch and when Dwayne Wade split another pair of free throws the Bulls had a one point lead 100-99 with :14 seconds left to play. The Kings went to DeMarcus Cousins to try and get the final shot, but Taj Gibson knocked the basketball away and Dwayne Wade dumped it off to Michael Carter-Williams for an easy lay up and a Bulls 102-99 win.

Dwayne Wade was the Bulls leading scorer with 30 points while Jimmy Butler added 23 points and handed out a game high 7 assists. Paul Zipser came off the Bulls bench to score 13 points while Nikola Mirotic; also off the Bulls bench added 10 points. Cristiano Felicio grabbed a team high 10 rebounds in just 15 minutes of action.

DeMarcus cousins was the only Sacaremento player to score in double figures and he had a game high 42 points as well as a game high 14 rebounds. Ty Lawson handed out a team high 6 assists for the Kings.

The Bulls get a couple of days off before they head to Orlando to face the 18-27 Magic on Tuesday night. This game was the second of an eight game road trip for the Kings. Sacramento gets a day off before they head to Detroit to face the 21-24 Pistons.