Miller, Gay Help Grizzlies Corral Bulls

Memphis 104, Chicago 90

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 21 (AP) -- Rudy Gay thinks the Memphis Grizzlies might finally be finding their identity.

For the second straight home game, Memphis jumped out to a big lead before halftime then coasted to an easy victory. On Monday, it was a 104-90 win over the Chicago Bulls.

"We played our game, and we didn't settle for less,'' Gay said. "When we come out and want to play fast, and we don't settle for anything else, I think we're pretty good.''

Gay and Mike Miller each had 24 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Grizzlies. Pau Gasol added 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Mike Conley had 10 points and a career-high 10 assists.

Ben Gordon led the Bulls with 25 points, and Andres Nocioni had 16 points. Luol Deng added 13 points and Kirk Hinrich had 12 points and six assists for Chicago, which shot just 36.5 percent from the field while Memphis connected on 52 percent of its shots.

"It was nice to see a strong, passionate defensive effort,'' Memphis coach Marc Iavaroni said. "It was good to see our defense step up. There were a lot of deflections and a lot of activity.''

The Grizzlies built a 17-point lead in the second half and maintained the double-digit advantage the rest of the way, winning for the second time in three games.

The Bulls are 0-17 in games where their opponents score 100 points.

The Bulls pulled to 82-72 with 7:20 left, but Memphis made eight of its first 10 shots in the fourth quarter to hold off Chicago, never allowing the Bulls to cut the deficit under 10 in the final period.

None of the Bulls had a good shooting night. Gordon hit eight of 20 shots, while Nocioni was 5-of-16 and Hinrich was 5-of-14. Joe Smith and Thabo Sefolosha both missed six of nine shots.

"We wanted to come out early and be aggressive. Really set the tempo and play our style of basketball,'' Conley said. "We really had it going up and down the court, moving it around and getting them uncomfortable.''

Chicago was coming off a 97-81 win Saturday over the Detroit Pistons, the Central Division leader, and expected to be more competitive.

"We haven't been consistent effort wise, and our record is indicative of that,'' Bulls interim coach Jim Boylan said. "We can't have just one, two or three guys giving effort. We have to have all five. Even the teams that don't have great records are coming to play.

"Memphis just outplayed us in every area effort-wise.''

The Bulls trailed 36-35 with 3:33 left in the first half but Memphis closed out the second quarter with 12 unanswered points to go into the break with a 48-35 lead.

Miller scored 11 points, and Gay and Conley added 10 points apiece in the half.

Chicago shot 33 percent in the first half as Nocioni missed all five of his shots and Sefolosha missed five of his six shots.

Chicago made a dent the lead in the early stages of the third as Memphis committed four turnovers in the first 2 minutes, leading to a 7-0 run by the Bulls to open the half. But Chicago still couldn't improve its shooting touch, and after the early mistakes, Memphis found its rhythm and took a 74-62 lead into the final period.

"I really think we kind of ran their legs out a little bit,'' Conley said. "We're used to getting up and down, and I think we really wore on them in the fourth quarter when it came to crunch time. They started missing some of the shots they normally make.''

source : NBA.com