Bobcats topple Bulls, 96-91

The Bobcats jumped out to a big first-quarter lead against the Chicago Bulls, gave back the lead by the end of the third quarter, and then finally prevailed after a tight fourth quarter, 96-91. It was the Bulls' third straight loss on the road, and the Cats' fourth straight win overall.

The Bulls were led by Luol Deng's 22 points on 8-12 shooting, and Carlos Boozer's 23 points on 10-15 from the field to go with 14 rebounds. Meanwhile, the Cats spread around the scoring, with six different players scoring double digit points, and D.J. Augustin tallying 12 assists.

Game thread comment, lowlights, and highlights after the jump.

GAME THREAD COMMENT

intramural sport bench coach -- Apparently, Thomas wants a three-way with Jack and Pressure. (DA -- FANTASTIC screen name.)

BAD

-- Tyrus Thomas was the only bench player who stood out. The rest of the guys -- Shaun Livingston, Gerald Henderson, Dominic McGuire, and Matt Carroll -- merely filled a few minutes without serious embarrassment and shot a combined 2-11 with 1 rebound and 1 assist. 

-- It's sad that Derrick Brown has been so marginalized, given the flashes of potential he's shown. I'm guessing Eduardo Najera is active and Brown is inactive because Najera has some kind of non-playing value that Brown doesn't. Is it seriousness in practice? High five ability? General cheeriness? Given what limited information I have, I'd rather Brown get minutes here and there, and I hope there's another reason other than present-day talent that Brown's inactive, because the eleventh man is not where one should aim to maximize current production.

GOOD

-- First, Gerald Wallace is back and had a Gerald Wallace game: 14 points on 11 attempts, with 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. It's good to have Crash back.

-- I've got a post about Thomas percolating, and I think it'll spark some good discussion when it does go up -- perhaps tomorrow. Tonight, he was great in less-than-full-time minutes (29:34), scoring 17 points on 14 attempts, with 13 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

-- D.J. Augustin thoroughly outplayed Derrick Rose. Augustin shot 6-12 for 22 points -- thanks to 8-9 free throw shooting -- and, as noted above, had 12 assists. Rose ended up shooting 5-17 for 17 points, with 7 assists. While Rose is clearly the better player, for one night, at least, Augustin got the better of him, from the first minute to the last, when he forced Rose into a key turnover.

-- Kwame Brown wasn't in for crunch time -- and rightly so -- but early on, he was excellent, absolutely working both Kurt Thomas and Boozer in the paint, ending up playing 21 minutes, and scoring 10 points on 5 attempts, with 5 rebounds.

-- Doth mine eyes deceive me? The Cats turned it over only 7 times. Build on it!