Chicago Bulls brush aside New York Knicks with late surge

The Bulls, already missing Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah with injuries, trailed by 12 at the half and didn’t look like a team with the firepower required for a comeback.

Danilo Gallinari led the Nuggets with 29 points in his second game back from a sprained left ankle.

But they lost to Jimmy Butler and the Bulls 115-113 anyway.

Michael Jordan (the meme guy) previously held the record for points in a half with 39, but Butler sealed a new one by splitting a pair of free throws at the end of the game.

As a leader of his squad, the star guard was proud of his team and their performance.

Toronto Raptors’ Cory Joseph makes a pass in front of Chicago Bulls’ Pau Gasol during second half NBA basketball action in Toronto on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Also as of right now it is unclear if he will be able to return to the teams Sunday game. The rookie earned a double-double, coming up with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

“I don’t know, ” first-year coach Fred Hoiberg said, when asked if he could have envisioned all the off-the-court issues surrounding the Bulls when he took the job. DeRozan’s lone contest failing to reach 20 points in the last dozen was at Chicago on Monday, when he was limited to 19 points in 36 minutes.BUZZER BEATERS1. Right behind them, also tied with 19 wins are the Miami Heat and the Magic. The Knicks missed their first nine shots from the field until forward Kristaps Porzingis made a layup to snap the drought almost four minutes after the opening tip. NY averaged 93 points during its four-game slide but shot 54.4 percent from the floor in the 108-96 win over the Pistons.

The Knicks started to chip away as they cut the Chicago lead to 10. DeRozan led all scorers with 10 points and Gasol topped the Bulls with eight.

The 40 points were a Bulls’ club record for a half. Jose Calderon’s ball movement and shooting then aided the Knicks to get their first lead at 67-66.

Butler downplayed the effect Carroll’s forearm had on his performance.

The Bulls entered the fourth quarter with a 77-73 advantage. He added six fourth-quarter points playing his more natural stretch power forward position. “I thought we had control up to that point, but we just didn’t put our stamp on it in the fourth quarter defensively”.

Afflalo’s production compensated for a poor shooting day from Carmelo Anthony, who scored only 1 point in the first quarter.

Butler, who scored two points in the first half, acknowledged that he was upset after being elbowed in the face by Raptors swingman in the second quarter.

NY has struggled in the fourth quarter throughout the 2015-16 regular season.