Chicago Bulls Set NBA Record in Beatdown of New Orleans Hornets

The Chicago Bulls became the first team in NBA history to win three consecutive road games with no home games in-between by at least 20 points when they beat the New Orleans Hornets Wednesday night 90-67.

Were it not for a three pointer made by Marco Belinelli, the Hornets would have been strapped by a franchise-low 64 points as well. 

It was a game of suffocating defense with the Bulls challenging shots and not letting the depleted Hornets team have any good looks at the basket. Belinelli's three was the first the Hornets had on the night. They were just 28-of-75 from the field. 

For the Bulls, the offensive effort was balanced as four players scored double figures and seven others  scored at least five. In all, 11 players of the 12 who played had an assist, and the Bulls assisted on 29 of their 39 field goals on the night. 

It wasn't the best game offensively, though, as both Ronnie Brewer and C.J. Watson were pretty awful, going for a combined 3-of-18 from the field. The rest of the team combined for 36-of-67, though. 

Derrick Rose played just 22 minutes, probably resting his back. He wasn't particularly aggressive in going to the basket, but that's to be expected in a blowout while nursing injuries. Luol Deng, not surprisingly, played the most minutes of any starter, but even he played "only" 34 minutes. 

The player of the game award probably goes to Joakim Noah, who played stellar defense, scored 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting and grabbed 10 boards in just 28 minutes of action.

The Bulls got some help from other teams in the Eastern Conference as the Miami Heat dropped a game to the Orlando Magic and the Spurs beat Philadelphia. 

The Bulls also took over the "margin of victory" lead, raising their average margin per game to 9.7 points, which is all the more impressive when you consider that they've played so many games on the road. 

They have now played 18 games on the road, two more than any other team, and they have won the most, owning the best road-winning percentage at .787. 

Their next game will come against the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night. It will be the Bulls' eighth consecutive road game. They should be favored to win, but it has the possibility of being a "trap" game as Charlotte is not a good game and the Boston Celtics come next. Miami nearly lost there earlier this year, so Chicago will have to make sure not to lose focus.