The Brooklyn Nets on Sunday won their 3rd straight game and picked up their 12th victory in their last 15 games with a 117-100 win over the Chicago Bulls.
The Brooklyn Nets played Sunday against the Chicago Bulls like it was a game they expected to win. And then they did just that, putting away the Bulls with a 12-3 run early in the fourth quarter en route to a 117-100 win at United Center in the first game of a road back-to-back.
The Nets (20-21) close out a three-game trip Monday night against the Boston Celtics.
After turning up the defensive intensity in their 109-100 win at Memphis on Friday, Brooklyn kept the heat on the Bulls Sunday. Chicago shot 46.6 percent overall (41-for-88) and were 7-for-18 from 3-point range (38.9 percent).
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The Bulls didn’t find a lot of open shots — except for Zach LaVine going off for 16 points in the second quarter and Bobby Portis, a 25 percent shooter, hitting three 3s — and the Nets were communicating extremely well on switches and screens.
Brooklyn, meanwhile, hit 50.6 percent (42-for-83) and was 16-for-46 (34.8 percent) from deep while committing only nine turnovers.
Offensively, the Nets did a very solid job reacting to Chicago’s strategy of double-teaming ball screens and moved the ball around well, recording 29 assists — every player but Jarrett Allen had at least one, and Allen was moving the ball to the correct spots all game long.
The Nets led by as much as 19 points and never trailed in the second half.
Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson also continued to experiment with the three-point-guard look, playing Shabazz Napier with Spencer Dinwiddie and D’Angelo Russell for nearly seven minutes. The ball movement with that trio was exceptional and Chicago had trouble matching up with it.
The Bulls did outrebound the Nets 43-38, but surrendered 17 points off 11 turnovers. Brooklyn limited the damage off mistakes to eight points and had a 14-10 edge in fast-break points.
Here are the player grades from a solid victory by Brooklyn.