CHICAGO (AP) — Pau Gasol scored 24 points and the Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Clippers 83-80 on Thursday night to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Bulls caught a big break midway through the third quarter when Clippers Al-Star Blake Griffin was ejected for a hard foul against Taj Gibson, and they came away with the win after blowing a 16-point lead.
Derrick Rose banked in a floater with 45 seconds left to make it 83-77 before Los Angeles’ Wesley Johnson buried a 3-pointer. The Clippers then rebounded a miss by Chicago’s Jimmy Butler with six seconds left, but Chris Paul’s tying 3-point attempt hit the just before the buzzer.
Butler finished with 14 points after pouring in a career-high 36 the previous night against Boston.
Rose scored all of his 11 points in the second half, and Gibson finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
