Bulls 103, Warriors 83

CHICAGO — Forward Taj Gibson scored 21 points, leading the Chicago Bulls to an easy 103-83 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night at the United Center.

Bulls forward Jimmy Butler returned to the lineup after missing two games with a bruised rib, and he added 16 points. Center Joakim Noah piled up 17 rebounds, eight points and seven assists.

The Bulls improved to 19-8 since Jan. 1 by winning for the seventh time in eight games. Golden State (35-23) had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Chicago (31-26) is now a season-best five games over .500 and has won 11 of the past 12 meetings with the Warriors at the United Center. The strange thing about this one was that Golden State was the rested team. The Bulls won in Atlanta on Tuesday night, while the Warriors had not played since Monday.

Chicago trailed 24-21 after one quarter, then shot 56.5 percent in the second and opened a 56-45 lead at halftime behind 11 second-quarter points from forward Mike Dunleavy.

In the third quarter, Golden State hit just four of 21 shots and scored 14 points, and the Bulls’ lead grew to 21. Chicago forward Carlos Boozer scored 11 of his 15 points in the third quarter.

In the first meeting between the teams, in Oakland, Calif., on Feb. 6, guard Stephen Curry poured in 34 points as the Warriors rallied for a 15-point win. This time, Curry hit two of 10 shots and finished with five points, matching his season low.

Guard Jordan Crawford led Golden State with 16 points, while forward David Lee and forward Harrison Barnes scored 11 points each. The Warriors shot 35.7 percent from the field overall and were outrebounded 56-41.

Chicago made 44.6 percent of its shots from the floor.

Longtime Bulls assistant coach Pete Myers, now a Golden State assistant, was assessed a technical foul in the third quarter for arguing a call.

NOTES: Golden State F David Lee returned to the lineup after missing two games with the flu. Lee came off the bench, while F Jermaine O’Neal remained a starter. … Chicago F Jimmy Butler was back on the floor after missing two games with a bruised rib. … Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said G Derrick Rose is running on his own and doing some lateral slides now. Rose had surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee Nov. 25 and is expected to miss the rest of the season. … Current Warriors coach Mark Jackson was a player in New York and Houston while Thibodeau was an assistant on Jeff Van Gundy’s staff. “I called him ‘Deacon,’ because he was Jeff Van Gundy’s deacon. Jeff was he head pastor,” Jackson said. “You knew he was going to be a very good coach. He worked his tail off and was committed to his craft.” … This was the second stop of a six-game road trip for the Warriors.