Bulls 93, Trail Blazers 88
PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Chicago Bulls sank six straight free throws over the final 15.9 seconds to close out a 93-88 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers Tuesday night at the Moda Center.
Guard Jimmy Butler -- who sank the first four of those foul shots -- led Chicago (9-4) with 22 points, while guard Derrick Rose added 17 points and center Pau Gasol collected 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Guard Damian Lillard had 19 points, a season-high 10 rebounds and eight assists for Portland (6-10), but he made only 4 of 22 shots from the field. Guard CJ McCollum added 18 points and center Mason Plumlee had 11 points and a season-high 17 rebounds for the Blazers.
The Bulls used stiff defense to hold the Blazers to 31-percent shooting and take a nine-point lead into halftime.
Portland opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to close to within 48-46. Chicago responded with a 7-0 tear of its own to make it 55-46.
Forward Taj Gibson's 18-footer gave Chicago a 69-56 lead with 1:30 left in the quarter. The Bulls carried a 71-63 bulge into the final period.
Rose's driving layup pushed Chicago into a 78-65 advantage with 10 minutes to play, but Lillard led an 11-0 tear that trimmed the margin to 78-76 with 6:21 remaining.
Gasol's 15-footer gave the Bulls an 80-76 lead with 4:51 left, but McCollum buried a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 80-79.
McCollum knocked down a pair of foul shots to tie the game at 82-82 with 4:01 to go. Forward Nikola Miritic got one of two attempts down at the other end to pull Chicago back ahead 83-82, and Gasol followed with two at the line to make it 85-82 with 3:22 remaining.
Gasol's driving layup increased the lead to 87-82 with 1:41 left. Portland forward Ed Davis made one of two at the line with 1:36 to play to make it 87-83, and Plumlee's driving dunk drew the Blazers to within 87-85 with 1:14 on the clock.
Neither team scored again until Lillard sank the first free throw, then missed the second attempt with 20.7 seconds left. Butler hit a pair at the other end to lift Chicago into an 89-86 advantage with 15.9 ticks left.
McCollum scored on a drive to make it 89-88 with 13.0 seconds on the clock. Butler went to the line again and made two to up Chicago's lead to 91-88 with 11.3 seconds remaining.
McCollum's 3-point attempt in the closing seconds was off, and Gibson put down two free with 1.8 seconds left to clinch the victory for the Bulls.
Chicago jumped to a 10-0 lead as Portland missed its first seven shots from the field. The Bulls hit their first four 3-point attempts en route to a 29-22 advantage after one period.
The Bulls led 37-27 after Rose's driving layup with 8:20 left in the second quarter. A driving layup by Mirotic increased the margin to 43-32 with four minutes to go before intermission. Butler launched a 40-foot bomb that went in at the buzzer to take Chicago into the half with a 48-39 lead.
NOTES: G Derrick Rose returned to the Chicago starting lineup Tuesday after missing the previous two games with an ankle injury. ... F Mike Dunleavy, who has missed the entire season with a back injury, is with the Bulls on this four-game road trip. "He will get re-evaluated by the doctor as soon as we get back to Chicago, and we'll go from there," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "He has been upping his activity level. Hopefully, he will continue to progress and we can get him back out there soon." ... Portland F Meyers Leonard (shoulder) missed his seventh straight game Tuesday but is getting close to a return. ... Blazers G Damian Lillard entered Tuesday's game ranked fifth in the NBA in scoring (25.5) and tied for seventh in assists (7.1). ... The Bulls had not played since losing 106-94 at Golden State last Friday. "Not sure I've ever experienced four days between games on a trip," said Hoiberg, who played 10 NBA seasons. "We were able to have valuable time on the practice floor, which you usually don't get a lot of at this time of the year."