The way the Bulls are playing at the United Center, they might be able to sneak into the playoffs without winning another road game.
Consider what transpired Wednesday night at Ford Center some much-needed breathing room nonetheless.
The Bulls overcame turnovers, atrocious first-half defense and a near late-game collapse to snap their seven-game road losing streak with a 103-96 victory over the improved Thunder.
They increased their lead in the race for the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot to 11/2 games over the Bucks, who were blown out at home by the Magic. The Bobcats pulled even with the Bucks with a victory over the Kings.
The Bulls improved to 11-26 away from home and have nine home and four road games remaining.
Derrick Rose, eschewing the drive, made all 10 second-half shots on jumpers to lead the Bulls with 25 points.
John Salmons added 20 and Brad Miller contributed 14 points, six rebounds and five assists in their first road victory as Bulls.
This being the Bulls, there was unnecessary drama.
Leading 99-90 with 1 minute 56 seconds remaining, Miller missed two free throws. Kevin Durant, who led the Thunder with 28 points, made two free throws. Following a Ben Gordon miss, Nick Collison scored.
Miller and Tyrus Thomas missed on the same possession, and Russell Westbrook scored to make it a one-possession game. Miller then rebounded a Gordon miss, but Thomas didn’t know the ball hadn’t hit the rim and held on as the shot clock expired.
But the Bulls forced Durant into a rushed three-pointer on a broken play, and Thomas made two free throws with 21.9 seconds left for a five-point lead.
“We have to convert better down the stretch, understand in the fourth quarter what’s going to happen,” coach Vinny Del Negro said before the game. “Earlier in the season I thought we had a pretty good road mind-set.
“We’ve lost some really tough road games and confidence is big with a young team. We have three guys with Joakim (Noah), Derrick and Tyrus (Thomas) who are still young players.”
The Bulls led 87-82 more than midway through the fourth when Kirk Hinrich sank a three-pointer and Miller added five straight points.
The Bulls had trailed 56-51 at halftime and it could have been worse had Gordon not produced one of his patented scoring sprees to close the half. He scored seven straight points of his eventual 18.
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kcjohnson@tribune.com
