Shepkowski: Boozer Leads Way For Rose-less Bulls

By Nick Shepkowski -

(CBS) For the first time without Derrick Rose the Bulls offense appeared to not miss a beat in Tuesday nights 118-97 win over the Phoenix Suns. Paced by Carlos Boozer's 31 points, 26 of which came in the first half, for all intents and purposes the Bulls had their thirteenth win of the season on lockdown somewhere near the halfway mark of the second quarter.

"We came in with a great sense of urgency to bounce back and the great thing about this league is that, especially this season, you have the chance to play again right away" said Boozer of his season-high scoring output.

Boozer's 31 led the Bulls but all five starters finished in double digits and shot a combined 37/63 (58.7%) from the floor.

CJ Watson started in place for Rose and had the most efficent game a Bulls point guard has had to date in trying to replace last years MVP. Watson paced the Bulls early with 13 first quarter points before finishing with his own season high of 23 points.

"CJ Watson's been playing great since he got back" said Boozer of the upstart point guard.

"He played great tonight, played great last night and I thought today was a great team effort."

Joakim Noah added a strong bounce-back effort scoring 13 points and pulling down 12 rebounds.

"I'm just trying to take it game by game" said Noah after the game.

"I was a little bit embarrassed by the way I played the other night so I wanted to come out and bring some energy (tonight)".

The Bulls also welcomed Richard Hamilton back to the lineup for the first time since January 4 as the 12 year NBA veteran scored 11 in his return to the lineup.

"He runs the floor really hard and the thing about Rip is that he knows how to find shots" said Thibodeau after the game.

"He presents another option offensively and with his experience he makes the right play" said Carlos Boozer of Hamilton's outing.

The Bulls now have the next two nights off, a vacation of sorts after playing 7 games in the last 9 days. The only time to date the Bulls have had two consecutive games off were December 27th and 28th, after opening the season at Los Angeles and Golden State.

"Its going to feel great for our bodies to have a chance to recover" said Boozer of the two day break.

Before the game Thibodeau announced further details on Rose's foot injury, leaving much question as to how long the Bulls leading scorer will be out.

"You could say its a sprain or turf toe, there are some similarities between the two."

Thibodeau went on to add that "Rose is sore, that's the bottom line so we just felt it was best to have him sit this one out."

The Bulls return to action on Friday night in Cleveland where they take on the 6-7 Cavaliers who were a 105-95 loser against Golden State on Tuesday night.

Follow Nick Shepkowski on Twitter (@Shep670).