Rose back in bloom in Chicago

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Bulls were looking for someone, anyone, to provide a spark, and it figured that Derrick Rose would.

It was no shocker, either, that Taj Gibson provided one, too.

Rose scored 33 points, Gibson scored all of his 11 in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 95-83 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead.

Luol Deng added 23 points and Chicago let out a big sigh of relief.

"It's definitely fun playing against a good team," Rose said. "Coach always said we're going to have to walk through the fire together. Every series has tested us in every way, but I think that we're sticking together."

Game 6 is Thursday in Atlanta, and a win would put Chicago in the conference finals for the first time since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen wrapped up their second championship three-peat in 1998. They are in this position after dominating Atlanta in the fourth quarter 26-15, with Rose matching Gibson's 11 points.

Rose showed why he is the league's youngest Most Valuable Player, hitting 11 of 24 shots and finishing with nine assists. It was a big improvement over Game 4 when he needed 32 shots to score 34 points, and he was particularly effective down the stretch, attacking the rim.

"It forces the defense to collapse, leads to easy opportunities for others, it leads to some second shots," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "We want to be inside-out so I thought it was huge."

Atlanta's Jeff Teague came up big again filling in for the injured Kirk Hinrich, scoring 21 for the third time in this series, but the Hawks came up short in the end.

Josh Smith contributed 16 points, Joe Johnson 15, Zaza Pachulia 13 and Al Horford added 12 points and 10 rebounds.

"We were playing for everything," Horford said.

It hasn't been an easy postseason for the Bulls after they stormed to a league-leading 62 wins, with Indiana pushing them in the first round and the Hawks doing the same. Even so, they are poised to advance.