Hawks at Bulls
The Atlanta Hawks were back at full strength Friday and easily kept their winning streak alive. The Hawks expect to have everybody available again Saturday when they travel to Chicago looking for a clean sweep of a four-game road trip and a 12th straight victory overall. Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer rested Jeff Teague on Tuesday against Philadelphia, and Al Horford and Kyle Korver the next night in Boston but had everybody suited up in Friday's 110-89 beatdown in Toronto.
The win streak is the second-longest in franchise history and just three shy of the all-time mark set during the 1993-94 season. "I feel like we have very good rhythm right now," Horford said after the game. "We are playing. All the pieces are all starting to come together." Chicago got 29 points from Derrick Rose and used a big fourth-quarter to knock off Boston 119-103 on Friday, preventing a fifth loss in six games.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, WGN (Chicago), SportSouth (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (32-8): Atlanta is 25-2 since a 126-115 home loss to Toronto on Nov. 26 and is riding a franchise-record 11-game road winning streak. Horford led five starters in double figures with 22 points as the Hawks shot 60.9 percent against Toronto and drained 12-of-23 from the arc. At the point guard spot, Teague and Dennis Schroder combined for 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting and 13 assists against just two turnovers.
ABOUT THE BULLS (27-14): Rose entered the Washington game Wednesday shooting 6-of-36 from the arc in his previous eight games and on pace for the lowest 3-point shooting percentage in NBA history among players who average five attempts per game (27.9 percent). The 2010-11 MVP responded the past two games by draining 11-of-17 shots from the arc and scoring 61 points and adding 15 assists. Rose scored 11 points in the fourth quarter as Chicago shot 12-of-18 against the Celtics down the stretch and got help from Jimmy Butler (22 points, career-high six steals) and Pau Gasol (20 points, 11 rebounds, four assists).
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Atlanta beat Chicago 93-86 in their first meeting Dec. 15.
2. Bulls C Joakim Noah (ankle) did not play Friday against the Celtics, joining F Doug McDermott (knee) and G Mike Dunleavy (ankle) on the sidelines.
3. Butler broke out of a 12-of-44 shooting slump by converting 10-of-19 shots against Boston.