Butler scores 23 points, Bulls beat Thunder 105-96

Before their holiday matchup tipped off in Oklahoma City-a city in which the Bulls had lost five straight-ESPN analyst Doug Collins opined on the telecast about the fragility of success.

The Chicago Bulls survived a furious fourth-quarter comeback by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Christmas day, winning 105-96 and ending a three-game losing streak.

Gibson said the team responded a pep talk form general manager John Paxson, who addressed the struggling Bulls prior to leaving for Oklahoma City. It’s no time to be friends with anybody right now. We’re with each other 24-7. “When shots don’t go in we still have to play defense and we still have to be smart out there”.

Rose is hitting just 22.4 percent from behind the arc this season, and enigmatically his free throw shooting has fallen off to just 70.5 percent on 2.5 attempts per game. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games including two huge wins over the Los Angeles Lakers and one last-shot victory against the Los Angeles Clippers. Obviously, it was a tough week after a really good week.

“We seen how the game was going”, Chicago guard Derrick Rose said. We’ve got to turn things around. “You have to stop (Durant and Westbrook) from getting easy looks, make them work for their money, and then keep everybody else off. Don’t let the bench have an impact”. They would finish the quarter up 32-26, in large part to Oklahoma City’s poor shooting, as the Thunder finished 9-of 26 from the field. “The biggest thing we were looking for was to come out and play hard, Play with effort, play together”. Durant scored 19 points in the half, and Westbrook had 12 points and five assists.

Rose continued his strong showing, controlling the pace of play on the ball and attacking when opportunities presented themselves, while Butler maintained his hold on the proceedings off the dribble and the duo of Gasol and rookie Bobby Portis helped the Bulls re-establish their dominance on the interior.

Chicago scored the first eight points of the second half to go up 62-52 and force the Thunder to call a timeout. To add insult to injury, Joakim Noah left the game late in the third quarter with a shoulder sprain and while the X-rays came back negative, he is still under an injury cloud for tonight. Butler’s actions were (rightfully) watched closely after he said the Bulls needed to be coached harder. “We want to win every game, but this is the start to something good, hopefully”.

The lineup that Oklahoma City started the fourth quarter with – Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, Kanter and Morrow – outscored the Bulls 28-19.