Apr 20, 2013; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah (13) is fouled during the third quarter against the Brooklyn Nets in game one of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at the Barclays Center. Brooklyn won106-89. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Bulls are back at the Barclays Centre as they took on the fierce Brooklyn Nets. During the first game of this playoff series, the Bulls were basically embarrassed on national television, losing to the Nets 106-89.

As Bulls coach, Tom Thibodeau and crew went back to the drawing board, it was clear what they had to do. Play with more execution and more intensity. Fortunately, that’s exactly what they did, as the Bulls won, 90-82.

The first minutes of the game didn’t go so swell. Jimmy Butler immediately committed a turnover on a bad pass as Net’s Gerald Wallace swiped the ball as Deng was force to commit a personal foul. Wallace however wouldn’t be able to follow up with points, as he throw the ball out of bounds. A sloppy start for both teams.

Moments later, Deng was able to find an open look a score a bucket, securing the first points for the Bulls as Kirk Hinrich dishes the ball to him. Both teams were unable to score many points as bricks and bad passess were thrown throughout. At the end of the first quarter, the Bulls, mostly Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich, scored 20 points while the Nets fell short, scoring 17.

The second quarter went in favour of the Nets. Nets’ Andray Blatche made a basket with the assists by former Bull C.J. Watson. Speaking of Watson, he had a great game going into halftime. He shot 4-of-7 from the field, and scored seven points coming off the bench. Carlos Boozer played fantastic in this quarter, as he scored 10 points on 5-of-7 shot attempts. He’s definitely fighting for this contract.

At the half, the Bulls were leading by 47-46. Chicago was hanging in there shooting an alright 51% from the field. The Nets shot 29 points in the second quarter, while the Bulls shot just 27 points.

One of the highlights of the game came during the last remaining seconds of the second quarter as Nets’ Deron Williams passed to an open C.J. Watson in the right corner with Watson flushing down a three-point buzzer-beating dagger. Nets still trailed though.

Free throws were proving to be a problem for Chicago as they shot just 44%. Three-point shooting needed some fine tuning as well as Chicago made 33% of their three-point shots. The team was moving the ball and working collectively as they dished out 12 assists and grabbed 18 rebounds. Lastly, they need to tighten up defense as they turned the ball over seven times.

Onto the third quarter, and it was better than expected for Chicago. Boozer successfully made a jumper while Hinrich nailed down a three-pointer. He had 10 points. Noah as well, playing and fighting through plantar fasciitis scored his first points on a dunk. Boozer was credited with the assist.

Momentarily, Nazr Mohammed took over the game. He made jump shots here and there scoring eight points on a near perfect 4-of-5 shooting. Chicago ended the third quarter on a good note as they scored 22 points. The Nets appeared to hit a brick wall as they only scored 11 points in this quarter.

Onto the last and final quarter of this game. The Bulls started off red hot as Belinelli and Robinson knocked down a few layups. Noah as well came in as a ferocious beast finishing with a big dunk. The energy for the Bulls was exhilarating and only got better as Robinson knocked down a three-pointer. Noah as well came back with a tip shot.

Here come the electrifying Brooklyn Nets though as Watson hit a jumper and Joe Johnson hit a three-pointer, answering Robinson’s. Nonetheless, Johnson and Williams, both key players for the nets had terrible games. Williams shot 1-of-9 from the field, and Johnson shot 6-of-18.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the Bulls shot 21 shots while the Nets shot 25. Regardless, the Chicago Bulls won with a final score of 90-82.

At the end of the game, the Bulls struggled a bit. They shot 48% from the field, 58% from the free throw line and 25% from beyond the arc. They also finished with 21 assists, 44 rebounds and and 14 turnovers.

Game two of this series will be on Thursday and will be played at the United Center. Since the Bulls won game two, the series will be extended to include a game five.

Apr 2, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Chicago Bulls center Nazr Mohammed (48) misses a rebound during the fourth quarter at the Verizon Center against the Washington Wizards. Mandatory Credit: Paul Frederiksen-USA TODAY Sports

The first half of the game went swell for the Bulls. Carlos Boozer led the squad in all three categories, points, assist and rebounds, as he managed to score 11 points, six boards and dish out four assist. Boozer as well shot 55% from the field during the first half, scoring five-of-nine points and making his only free throw thus far, while fouled by by Nene therefore completing the AND-1 successfully.

While Boozer had a great half, other Bulls also played great. Jimmy Butler was one of the few off to a good game as he scored nine points, two of which came from three-point range. From the field he made three shots and eight attempts. As for beyond the arch, he attempted five shots.

Nate Robinson and Luol Deng also helped the team as they both scored eight points each, shooting a combined 50% from the field.

At the half, Chicago was doing well from the field shooting 47%. They however needed to improve from the three-point area as they only shot a low 21% from there. Another statistic to add was that before half-time  Chicago miraculously only commit one turnover, while the Wizards had four.

While the team was playing great, the same can’t be said about how they felt. When Taj Gibson fouled Nene, he felt pain in the same knee that was injured before. It appears he re-injured his MCL. Gibson went off to the locker room in the second quarter while Luol Deng checked in for him to play for the remaining minutes of the second quarter.

Per Bulls PR, Taj Gibson is questionable to return with a left knee injury.

— K.C Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 3, 2013

Same knee he hurt before (MCL), for anybody who’s wondering.

— Aggrey Sam (@CSNBullsInsider) April 3, 2013

The second half didn’t go as well as the first did. Carlos Boozer still knock down shots as he opened the third quarter with a jumper. The Bulls however would go on to commit more turnovers as Jimmy Butler stepped out of bounds. Luol Deng kept the Bulls in the game for a while as he clashed the boards getting every rebound he could, boxing out players.

Kirk Hinrich, Boozer and Nazr Mohammed found them selves in foul trouble giving the Wizards a chance to take the lead, successfully making their free throws.

Daequon Cook received some playing time as Boozer kept fouling. For a while the Bulls couldn’t get any open looks as the Wizards came back into this game receiving contributions from Trevor Airza, Emeka Okafor and John Wall. At the end of the third, Washington outscored the Bulls 28-20.

The fourth quarter is where it all went wrong. Luol Deng opened this quarter with a turnover, his second, losing the ball to Bradley Beal. Jimmy Butler also missed his first jumper in this quarter and Deng missed his first three-point attempt, again in his quarter.

The Bulls kept fouling again and again as Robinson and Boozer unintentionally committed fouls. The good news however was that Boozer, Cook and Mohammed still kept fighting, grabbing every open look miss for free rebounds.

A.J. Price however knocked down the dagger trey bring the Wizards to their first lead at 76-73. Nate Robinson and Hinrich fortunately, somehow found spark for three-point range as they nailed a couple open looks here and there. Nonetheless, Ariza answered back hitting another three as the Wizards eventually regained.

With Taj Gibson in the locker room, Kirk Hinrich would go on to join him as he received not one, but two technical fouls arguing over who knows what. He went on to join Noah, Gibson, Belinelli, Hamilton and Rose, all of whom were inactive.

During the last seconds of the game, Mohammed kept fighting, desperately obtaining rebounds, dunking and shooting jumpers but it ultimately wasn’t enough as the Bulls lost to the Wizards for the second time this season, to a final score 90-86.

At the end of the game, Chicago shot 39% from the field, 69% from the free throw line and 22% from three-point range. Collectively, they had 21 assists, 45 rebounds and seven turnovers.

The Bulls would get their chance at revenge as they play against the Wizards again this month for the last time on April 17. In the meantime, they will travel to Brooklyn and face off against the Nets on Thus. in a game that would be nationally televised on TNT and TSN.