Bulls rout Hawks; Mavs take 3-0 lead

Chicago: Chicago's Derrick Rose was in MVP mode on Friday scoring a career-high 44 points to lead the Bulls to a 99-82 win over the Atlanta Hawks as Dallas beat the Los Angeles Lakers to leave the two-time defending champions on the ropes.

The Mavericks rallied from a seven point deficit in the final five minutes to defeat the Lakers 98-92 and grab a commanding 3-0 lead in their Western Conference semi-final in front of a record crowd at the American Airlines Centre.

In Chicago, the Bulls led from start to finish and had the better of the Hawks in virtually every department to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final series.

Quick start

Chicago got off to a quick start and nursed a six-point advantage through the first quarter and their bench pushed the lead to 13 before the starters returned.

"Derrick was in attack mode, obviously. He was attacking from the start. When he's attacking, and not dancing with the ball, he's impossible to stop," said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. "He caught it on the run and kept going, he wasn't playing around or letting them catch up."

Atlanta coach Larry Drew agreed and saw signs that Rose was going to pose a problem right from the very start as he called a timeout 45 seconds into the game after Rose's first basket of the game.

"I saw an energy level that, right away, I knew we were in trouble," Drew said. "When you play against an explosive guard like Derrick Rose, you have to make a commitment to getting back and making sure you try to keep him out of the paint."