In the battle of teams with the two longest winning streaks in the league, the Bulls outscored the Nets 15-4 down the stretch and came away with an 84-73 victory. Derrick Rose (21 points) and Luol Deng (19 points) led the way for the visitors.
For the Nets, Brook Lopez (22 points, eight rebounds) and Kris Humphries (13 points, 16 rebounds, five blocks) had solid games, but an off night from the starting backcourt of Deron Williams and Anthony Morrow (4-for-22 combined from the field) made it an uphill climb. The team's 34.9 percent shooting was a combination of shots that spilled out, shots that didn't go down, and tough Bulls defence.
"We're still far away. We're still not a 48-minute team." -- Derrick Rose
Meanwhile, the Knicks ended the three-game losing streak by draining 20 threes to beat the Grizzlies. Tony Douglas had nine of these out of 12 for 29 total points. Finally Portland thrashed Cleveland 111-70.