Lopez, Young lead Nets to 105-102 victory over Bulls

There was a slight window for the Nets to rise out of the conference’s cellar and make a run at relevance, but a recent five-game losing streak has halted any shot at momentum. It was Lopez’ first ever game with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists.

Injury was added to insult as Joakim Noah left the game with a bad-looking shoulder injury, and though the Bulls had a couple spurts in the 4th to get the deficit down to 4 they never found themselves with a chance to tie the game.

Chicago Bulls center Pau Gasol (16) shoots over Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez, as Andrea Bargnani (9) watches during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Dec. 21, 2015, in Chicago. Pau Gasol added 20 points and nine rebounds.

Brooklyn was coming off a 100-85 home loss to Minnesota the night before, but out-toughed Chicago for the win Monday.

The Bulls have now lost two straight games and Jimmy Butler is already causing somewhat of a rift by saying that head coach Fred Hoiberg needs to coach them harder and stop being so nice.

Noah played 16 minutes and scored four points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out eight assists before exiting the game.

Hoiberg was surprised his team didn’t respond with a better effort.

But ten seconds of keep-away, two clutch free throws by Jarrett Jack, and a Lopez block sealed the deal.

Nets: G Joe Johnson was 10 for 38 in his last four games, including 2 for 10 Sunday against the Timberwolves.

“We came out right from the start with a lot of fight and a lot of goal”, said Nets coach Lionel Hollins. They won the rebounding battle even though the Bulls went with their jumbo lineup of Mirotic at SF (Tony Snell received a DNP), and even when going cold late were able to secure enough loose balls to keep the Bulls from taking back the lead. “We’ll see how I feel (Tuesday)”.

Westbrook’s three-pointer put the Thunder ahead 96-95 but Blake Griffin answered with a dunk that put the Clippers back in front, only to have Westbrook hit a jumper for a 98-97 Oklahoma City edge.