Pau Gasol played 40 minutes, dropped 16 points and pulled in 13 rebounds to help the Chicago Bulls beat the winless Orlando Magic 98-90.
The Bulls won despite playing without Derrick Rose, who has 2 ankle sprains and Joakim Noah who was sick today. Jimmy Butler had another huge game and led the Bulls with 21 points and 9 rebounds, Taj Gibson added 16 points and 13 rebounds for Chicago, who finally pulled away in the final minutes of a game that was tied after three quarters.
Jimmy Butler played a huge role in the Chicago late-game surge. Rookie Doug “Dougie McBuckets” McDermott, contributed 12 points off the bench for Chicago. Hinrich, who started in place of Rose, had 5 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Rose missed his second straight game after injuring both ankles Friday against Cleveland. He took part in the morning shootaround and was listed as probable to play, but was taken out of the starting lineup about a half hour before the game after going through warmups.
Tobias Harris scored 21 points and Nikola Vucevic had 19 points and 13 rebounds for Orlando, who are 0-4 for the first time since dropping its first six back in 1990-91. Rookies Elfrid Payton and Aaron Gordon shot 6-20 on the night. Payton had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists while Gordon had 6 points and 1 board.
Full Game Highlights
