Luol Deng had a great game and managed to push the Chicago Bulls over the Atlanta Hawks to end their four-game loosing streak. The small forward from Sudan scored 22 points and hauled nine rebounds to help his team win it 90-78 at the United Center.

Ben Gordon closely followed with 21 points, and Tyrus Thomas and Ben Wallace showed rebounding acumen as they recorded 12 rebounds each. Andres Nocioni and Chris Duhon chipped in with 11 points apiece for the Bulls, who began a three-game home stand.

For the Hawks, Joe Johnson led in scoring with 21 points and Josh Smith added 12, but they failed to push their winning streak to three in a row. Al Horford had 14 boards and eight points to go with that, but Atlanta lost its 12th straight against Chicago.

"Our offense tonight was just atrocious,'' coach Mike Woodson said.”I don't know what we were doing.''

Chicago outscored the Hawks 36 to 21 in the third quarter and during that stretch, when
Gordon scored nine and Deng and Tyrus Thomas added eight, the game was decided.

Deng, who missed three games because of his back pain, didn’t seem to be bothered or worried about.

"I can't be out there thinking about my back. I've just got to go out there and play,'' said Deng, who took more than a few charges.

The Bulls’ lead in the third quarter stayed close to 15 points and at the end of the stretch Gordon hit a jumper and Wallace dunked it to put Chicago ahead, 70-51. They managed to keep the pressure in the fourth quarter as well and began with a 9-2 run. The Hawks managed to reduce the deficit, but couldn’t get it to drop bellow 10.

"We needed it. We've been struggling and it is good to get a win," Deng said. "It wasn't pretty, but we got a win and hopefully it will get us going a little bit."