Bulls Top Trailblazers at Home 110-98

Deng scored a career-high 40 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 110-98 victory over Portland on Monday night. Deng's previous career best of 38 points, on March 26, 2007, also came against the Trail Blazers."During the first two games, (Deng) didn't shoot the ball well, but I thought he played well," said Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau. "He's moving without the ball, he's cutting hard, he's making the extra pass and he's playing really good defense. Tonight, he was terrific offensively. His body was in (constant) motion and he got out and ran the floor well." Derrick Rose, who entered the game as the NBA's leading scorer, added 16 points and 13 assists for Chicago (2-1). The assist total matched his previous career high set against Utah last March. "My whole goal was to see how I could control the game," Rose said. "They were keeping two people on me, so I had to pass the ball. Tonight, we were knocking in shots." The Trail Blazers entered the game 3-0, with all three of their victories coming as a result of fourth quarter comebacks. Portland outscored opponents 85-49 in the final quarters of its first three games, but were unable to mount a sustained rally against the Bulls.