Bulls vs. Thunder: Score and Twitter Reaction from Christmas Day 2015

The Chicago Bulls have upset the Oklahoma City Thunder 105-96 in the second of today’s NBA Christmas Day games in the United States.

After three straight losses, the Bulls made a statement by holding strong and taking down one of the best teams in the league on the road.

It was a combination of thunder and lightning for the Thunder’s big men in this game, as the team racked up 58 points in the paint on 34-for-53 (64.1 percent) shooting in the paint, and 72.2 percent shooting in the restricted area.

Except for Enes Kanter who had 14 points and 13 rebounds, no other Thunder scored in double-figures as the three other starters-Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams and Andre Roberson- combined to shoot just 5-of-22 from the field, or 22.7 per cent for just 11 points.

Fortunately for OKC, they found the right mix at the right time, and were able to get into the lane themselves repeatedly in the 4th quarter. Asked if he thought his words to Hoiberg had helped, Butler laughed it off, replying, “When we play like that we got a chance to win every game”. Yes, the Bulls have posted an impressive 4-1 mark against top four teams, including wins over the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers and a season sweep of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder energy was low early on, but the offense kicked into high gear in the 2nd half to get the win vs Denver.

Kanter came off the bench to score 21 points, grab eight rebounds and totally frustrate the Nugget’s coaching staff. DeMarcus Cousins had 36 points and six rebounds for the Kings. Westbrook and Durant became the first teammates to record at least 25 points and 10 assists each in the same regulation game since Karl Malone and John Stockton did it for the Utah Jazz in 1996.

While Rose’s late-game mistakes certainly didn’t make things easy for the Bulls, they were not the only reasons why the Bulls came up short.

The Thunder will host a struggling Denver Nuggets squad in a game National Basketball Association oddsmakers are favoring the Thunder by a whopping 16 points. Oklahoma City is a very good 3-point shooting team, while Denver is certainly below average, so it’s very telling that they ended up shooting 10 more.

They forced the manic Westbrook into six turnovers, as he missed six of his seven triples on the way to hitting just nine of his 23 shots.

“We needed something like this”, coach Fred Hoiberg said, “to show our guys how good we can be”.

Denver again cut the lead to three but would get no closer, Durant delivering two layups and Dion Waiters converting a steal into a dunk as the Thunder rolled to the finish. “He’s a below-the-rim player, but he got up on that one”. Withstood their run, which I think everybody knew they were going to go on in the fourth quarter. Meyers Leonard made four 3-pointers and had 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers.