Before tip-off Thursday, Derrick Rose said the Spurs-Bulls contest was a statement game. Then Rose went out and made the statement by himself, scoring a career-high 42 points to lead the Bulls to an impressive 109-99 win over the league's best team, the San Antonio Spurs. Rose scored 13 points in the fourth quarter. San Antonio guards Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Gary Neal tried to keep the Spurs in the game with 26 and 16 points, respectively. The Bulls earned their seventh straight home victory and their 15th win in their last 16 home games. The Spurs had the league's best road record of 21-7 going into the contest.
"We scored 99 points, shot 49 percent, hit seven 3-pointers, and you think you are going to win. But he negated that." -- San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich on Bulls guard Derrick Rose
In the other game of the night, the Mavs had the better of the Suns 112-106 as Dirk Nowitzki scored 35 points.