Behind a big night from E'Twaun Moore, the Chicago Bulls held off the Sacramento Kings for a big 107-102 win. 

Hot shooting from three helps Chicago to a halftime lead

Without Jimmy Butler tonight, the Chicago Bulls were going to have to step it up on offense as a team and that's what they did as Chicago shot eight of 13 from beyond the three-point line in the first half. 

E'Twaun Moore had a fantastic first quarter to lead Chicago as the Bulls played inspired to start the opening 12 minutes of the quarter. Not known as a scorer, Moore took matters into his own hands as he knocked down 13 points in the opening frame. Moore's play combined with the six assists by Derrick Rose helped Chicago to a 34-25 lead at the end of one. It was a great quarter offensively for Chicago as they shot 57% from the field and played very well for a team without its main scorer. 

The second quarter saw the Kings come back by way of their bench. When the starters came out flat to start the game, George Karl quickly turned to his bench and they produced. Darren Collison led the second unit on a charge in the second quarter and helped the Kings back into the game.  The Kings ended up going on a 7-3 run in the last two minutes of the half to cut Chicago's lead to 60-57 at the break. 

Moore lead the Bulls with 15 points at the half while DeMarcus Cousins led the way for Sacramento with 14 points. 

Second half fit for a King 

With all the momentum on their side, Sacramento took the lead with around nine minutes left in the quarter thanks to a Willie-Cauley Stein shot. The teams kept battling back and forth but it was Chicago who held the 80-75 lead. 

It was the Chicago bench that started off the 4th quarter and they made spark on offense thanks to Doug McDermott and Aaron Brooks helped Chicago out to a double digit lead early in the 4th quarter. Chicago continued it's hot shooting via the bench but when the starters came back for both teams, the Kings decided to make things interesting as Cousins along with Rajon Rondo helped Sacramento stay in the game. It was 103-98 with around 1:30 left when Moore fouled Marco Bellinelli, who was shooting a three. Bellinelli ended up hitting the three and missed the free throw however. 

Pau Gasol missed a shot with around 27.6 seconds left that would have given Chicago a five point lead following a timeout. The Kings tried to go for a quick two as DeMarcus Cousins was matched up on Tony Snell but missed two close layups and Moore grabbed the rebound. But Moore missed both free throws. 

Cousins ended up being fouled by Moore, who was very active at the end, but he missed the first free throw and purposely tried to miss the second one. But the ball clanked off the backboard and didn't hit the rim which gave Chicago the ball. Gasol ended up hitting two free throws as the Bulls escaped with a 107-102 win. 

Top Performers 

E'Twaun Moore led the Bulls tonight with 24 points and five rebounds tonight. 

As usual, DeMarcus Cousins had a big night as he scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds tonight. 

What's Next?

The Bulls will play the Denver Nuggets on Friday. 

The Kings will look to bounce back against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday. 

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About the author
Vijay Vemu
Vijay is a sports journalist who covers mainly the NBA and soccer. He is a credential reporter on the Chicago Fire and also covers NBA for VAVEL as well. He is also a editor for Mash Chicago, the publication of the Chicago Tribune. He is also a contributor at SB Nation's Blog A Bull and Big East Coast Bias as well as writing on European Soccer as well. He plans on attending the University of Illnois at Chicago (UIC) in the fall with a major in computer science. You can follow him on Twitter : @VJVemu