Bulls 114, Hawks 81
Derrick Rose scored 30 points and Luol Deng added 27, leading the Chicago Bulls to a 114-81 rout of the host Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.
The dominating victory gave Chicago (51-19) the best record in the Eastern Conference, a half-game ahead of Boston. The Bulls played near perfect basketball for the second night in a row and have won 10 of 11.
One night after beating Sacramento by 40 points, Chicago led by as many as 47 points (111-64) early in the fourth quarter.
Rose, who did not play in the fourth quarter for the second straight game, hit a career-high six 3-pointers and made 11-of-20 shots overall. He had 10 assists in 28 minutes. Deng was equally effective, hitting 10-of-15 from the field.
Rose and Deng each scored 20 points in the first half as Chicago built a 72-43 lead.
The Bulls broke away from a 17-17 tie with 3:50 to play in the first quarter by hitting 31-of-42 shots in the first half. They had 19 assists and only two turnovers before the break.
Jeff Teague came off the bench to scored 20 points, Al Horford and Josh Smith scored 14 points apiece and Joe Johnson added 13 as the Hawks (40-31) suffered their third home blowout loss in seven days. Atlanta was routed by Denver and Miami last week and has lost seven of 10.