Carlos Boozer’s great late as Bulls power past Jazz

Salt Lake City, UT, United States (4E Sports) – Power forward Carlos Boozer scored 11 straight points in the last five minutes to help the Chicago Bulls escape with a 93-89 victory over the Utah Jazz Friday at Energy Solutions Arena.

Hampered by early foul trouble, Boozer made a layup to cut the deficit to 81-79 with 4:58 left in the final canto.

Then, he made back-to-back baskets to counter an 18-foot jumper by Paul Millsap and tie the game at 83.

After that, Boozer sank five foul shots while the Jazz could only come up with a jumper from Millsap as the Bulls took an 88-85 lead with 27 ticks left on the clock.

Randy Foye brought the Jazz within one after a layup but the Bulls retaliated with four foul shots from Joakim Noah and Luol Deng for a five-point lead.

Foye then buried another layup with nine seconds left but Deng split his charities to seal the Bulls’ win that snapped a two-game losing skid, including an embarrassing 128-96 loss to the Denver Nuggets Thursday.

“I am just glad we got the win. That is the thing we needed, we needed to bounce back. We took a punch last night, but we got up tonight and we fought,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Boozer finished with 19 points while Nate Robinson added 18 points and nine assists for the Bulls, who finished a six-game road trip with a 3-3 record.

Deng tallied 15 points and 10 boards while Noah added 12 points and 11 boards as the Bulls improved to 30-20, good for second in the Central Division.

Taj Gibson and Marco Bellinelli provided the firepower off the bench for the Bulls, scoring 14 and nine points, respectively. Gibson also had eight rebounds while Bellinelli issued six dimes.

Al Jefferson submitted a double-double with 32 points and 13 rebounds for the Jazz, who lost to an Eastern Conference opponent at home for just the second time in the last season and a half.

Millsap added 21 points while Foye finished with 14 points and six assists for Utah, which slipped to 28-23.

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