Carlos Boozer scored 23 points and Derrick Rose doled out 12 assists, pushing Chicago out to a big lead in the first half that carried the Bulls to a comfortable win.
Chicago advanced to its first conference final since 1998, when Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen were on their way to a second three-peat. The Bulls fell on hard times after that glorious era, including three straight 60-loss seasons, but they have put together a deep, talented team that won more games than anyone during the regular season.
More wins than the ballyhooed Miami Heat, whose Big Three are waiting in the next round, with a spot in the NBA Finals on the line. Game 1 is Sunday in Chicago.
Rose scored 19 points in addition to setting up all those baskets, but this was a textbook performance by the players around him, each of them comfortable in a supporting role and willing to do the dirty work at the defensive end.
Chicago had assists on all but seven of its 31 baskets, and shot just 37 percent (27 of 74) and rarely got an open look.
That wasn’t the case for Boozer, who kept finding space and went 10-of-16 from the field, grabbing 10 rebounds and handing out five assists.
Luol Deng hit some big baskets early and finished with 13 points. Joakim Noah scored 11 and stifled the Hawks with three blocks. Omer Asik chipped in with two blocks of his own. Keith Bogans made only one basket, but it was a big 3-pointer as the Bulls put it away in the third quarter.
Atlanta had hoped to extend the series to a Game 7, feeling the pressure would be squarely on the Bulls if it came down to a winner-take-all. But Chicago squashed those hopes from the opening tip. The Bulls never trailed, and the lead was 10 by the end of the first quarter.
The Hawks had been in that position before. They fell behind by 15 in Game 5, then fought back to lead early in the fourth quarter. Chicago dominated late in that game for a 13-point win, but the Bulls weren’t about to cut it that close again.
With the loss, Atlanta extended an infamous playoff mark: The Hawks have never advanced past the second round since moving from St. Louis in 1968.
Joe Johnson led the Hawks with 19 points. Josh Smith was the only other player in double figures with 18. The Hawks went 1-of-11 from beyond the 3-point arc.
Cuban silent while Mavericks are soaring
After years of bankrolling one of the NBA’s highest-paid teams and paying more than $1 million in fines for haranguing the refs, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is making perhaps his biggest sacrifice yet.
He’s gone silent.
The normally loquacious Cuban hardly has been heard from since the Mavericks advanced from the first round of the playoffs. During their second-round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, Cuban was as visible as ever — chatting to Kobe Bryant during a game, joining players and coaches in the post-series greeting line to shake hands with retiring Lakers coach Phil Jackson - but he either avoided interviews or made only small talk with reporters.
Asked in an e-mail on Thursday if there was a reason for his recent low profile, Cuban replied, “Nope.” Without Cuban explaining his new approach, speculation abounds. Perhaps someone dared him to see how long he could go quiet. Or maybe he was just trying something different in hopes of a different result for the Mavericks; after all, his club hasn’t won any championships in 11 years of trying as he has soaked up the spotlight.
If that’s the impetus, and the Mavericks end up winning their first title ... well, there’s no telling what might happen.
“It should be about the players, never about the owner,” Dallas superstar Dirk Nowitzki said. “We played a great series (against the Lakers), we fought hard and battled and that was fun. I haven’t really seen Mark since then and that’s probably a good thing. It’s fine.” Dallas has won at least 50 games in each full season under Cuban’s watch. Nowitzki’s rise to among the game’s elite players is a big reason, but so is the owner’s willingness to load up on quality players, coaches and whatever else he considers might give his team an edge.
