Bulls 108, Kings 98
Derrick Rose had 19 points and eight assists to help the Chicago Bulls to a 108-98 victory over the host Sacramento Kings on Thursday.
Carlos Boozer had 16 points and 15 rebounds and Richard Hamilton scored 16 points for Chicago, which improved to 2-1 on its season-opening four-game road trip.
Marcus Thornton scored 20 points for Sacramento (1-2), which lost its second straight contest.
The Kings battled back from a 15-point second-quarter deficit to pull with 74-73 on a basket by DeMarcus Cousins with 4:20 left in the third quarter. But C.J. Watson hit a 3-pointer to start a run of seven straight Chicago points and the Bulls had the lead back up to 85-75 on Boozer’s basket in the final minute of the stanza.
Tyreke Evans scored 17 points, Cousins had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Jimmer Fredette scored 14 points for Sacramento.
Chicago never trailed over the last 45 minutes of the contest. The Bulls used a 15-0 run to take a 19-5 lead on Hamilton’s three-point play with 5:35 left in the opening quarter.
The lead was again 15 points four minutes into the second quarter after back-to-back 3-pointers by Kyle Korver but Sacramento battled back to cut its deficit to 60-53 at halftime.