NBA -- Gibson's career night powers Bulls past Hawks
By Homer D. Sayson
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 03 Feb 2013
CHICAGO -- Without their injured bigs -- 6-foot-11 Joakim Noah (swollen right foot) and 6-foot-9 Carlos Boozer (sore right hamstring) -- the Bulls desperately needed another big body to help carry the load when the team traveled to Atlanta to face the Hawks on Saturday night.
Taj Gibson was only too happy to oblige.
The 6-foot-9, 225-pound reserve Bull played every tick of the 48-minute game clock and turned in one of the best performances of his three-year NBA career. Gibson finished with 19 points and a career-high 19 rebounds as the Bulls dumped the Hawks, 93-76, at the Philips Arena.
"I'm exhausted. They kept giving me electrolytes on the bench, but I kept wanting to play. I know late in (Friday's) game I ran out of gas, and I didn't want to have that happen tonight," Gibson told the Chicago Tribune.
Gibson became the first Bulls since Ben Wallace in 2007 to play all 48 minutes of a game. Gibson also logged 45 minutes on Friday night when the Bulls lost to the Nets -- 93-89 -- at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
As Gibson made his charge, so did the other Bulls.
Small forward Luol Deng hauled in 25 points and 14 rebounds while Jimmy Butler added 16 and 10 rebounds. Manning the point in the absence of Kirk Hinrich (sore elbow), Nate Robinson filled in beautifully, 20 points and eight assists.
Josh Smith led the Hawks with 19 while Jeff Teague tallied 16 and four assists. Al Horford finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds fro Atlanta, which shot just 39.2 percent from the field.
The Bulls improved to 29-18 to pace the Central Division while the 26-20 Hawks stayed at second place in the Southeast Division behind the 29-14 Miami Heat (HDS)
Photo: Bulls forward Taj Gibson (No.22) notched 19 points and 19 rebounds in the Bulls' 93-76 win over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night at the Philips Arena.
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