Things somehow managed to go from bad to worse for the Atlanta Hawks.
Derrick Rose has 10 points and has sporadically been serenaded with MVP chants from the Chicago Bulls faithful sprinkled in the Philips Arena crowd as Chicago charged to a 50-33 lead at the break.
Joakim Noah has nine points and six boards and Luol Deng and Keith Bogans have eight each for the Bulls, who are shooting 51-percent (19-for-37) from the field and hold a 14-2 edge in transition.
Atlanta could only wish they were shooting that well. They seemingly can't find a bucket.
The Hawks misfired on nine of their first 10 shots in the frame before Kirk Hinrich answered with a 3-pointer with 2:18 left in the quarter. Meanwhile, it's been a dunk show for the visiting Bulls -- who even have their bandwagon fans back at Philips Arena. Noah, Carlos Boozer and Rose dunked in succession for Chicago, which lead by as many as 19 in the frame.
Things got testy for a second with 2:55 left in the frame when Boozer took down Hawks center Al Horford with a clothesline. With Horford down on the court, Zaza Pachulia immediately rushed into the scrum to defend his teammate, pushing Boozer away from the former Florida standout.
No punches were thrown and, of course, no flagrant-1 foul was assessed on Boozer.
Horford has nine points and nine boards and Jamal Crawford poured in seven for Atlanta, which shot just 27-percent (4-for-16) from the field in the second quarter.