Chicago, IL (Sports Network) – Toney Douglas finished with 30 points, including a 5-of-9 effort from beyond the arc, and Danilo Gallinari added 24 points as the New York Knicks easily topped the Chicago Bulls, 120-112, to snap a four-game losing streak at United Center.
Raymond Felton added 20 points and 10 assists and Amare Stoudemire finished with 14 points and eight rebounds in the win.
Derrick Rose finished with 24 points and a career-high 14 assists for the Bulls, who were 2-0 at home coming into Thursday’s game.
Taj Gibson added 18 points and 10 rebounds and Joakim Noah finished with 12 points and 13 boards in the loss.
The Knicks scored 70 points in the first half and held off multiple Chicago surges down the stretch.
Leading 93-83 entering the final quarter, the Knicks went on a quick 11-4 run to extend their lead back to 17.
Chicago head coach Tom Thibodeau called a timeout and removed Rose and Luol Deng from the game to try ignite a comeback.
Kyle Korver scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, including a jumper that brought the Bulls to within 108-99 with 4:48 to go but that is as close as the hosts would get until the final margin.
Gallinari supplied 10 points in the first quarter when the Knicks shot 12- of-21, from the field, to take a 34-30 lead after 12 minutes of play.
The Knicks went on a 15-4 run, including 5-of-5 from the line by Douglas, to open up the second quarter and Gallinari added another 11 points to give New York a 70-52 lead heading to the intermission.
After a Felton three pointer with 10:15 remaining in the third, the Bulls began to chip away at New York’s lead. Rose tallied 15 in the quarter, on 6- of-9 from the field, to shrink the Knicks lead to 93-83.
New York connected on 5-of-7 from beyond the arc, including three from Douglas, in the third quarter and wound up knocking down 16-of-24 from three- point territory in the game.
Chicago won last year’s series, 3-1. and had claimed 22 of the last 31 matchups heading into Thursday…In their last meeting, the Bulls dominated the Knicks with a 118-85 victory…Deng scored 17 points and grabbed four rebounds in the loss…Korver finished with 18 points on 7-of-10 from the floor, including 4-of-6 from three-point territory…Rose’s previous career high in assists was 13 set against Portland on Monday…Ronny Turiaf contributed nine points and seven assists in a reserve role for New York…Felton made 4-of-6 from beyond the arc en route to a 7-of-11 shooting performance.