Boozer scores 24 points, Bulls beat Nets 109-87

Carlos Boozer scored 24 points and the Chicago Bulls beat the New Jersey Nets 109-87 Monday night. Luol Deng scored 19 points and C.J. Watson added 14 points and 10 assists in place of Derrick Rose. The reigning league MVP played less than 11 minutes in the first half and the Bulls said at halftime that he would not return because of back spasms. Chicago is 4-2 six games into a nine-game road trip that is the Bulls' longest of the season. Deron Williams scored 25 points for the Nets, who only dressed nine players. Starting shooting guard Anthony Morrow missed the game due to the death of his grandmother, while Brook Lopez, Damion James, Mehmet Okur, MarShon Brooks and DeShawn Stevenson were out with injuries. Morrow is expected to return to the team for Wednesday's game against the Pistons. Keith Bogans started in place of Morrow. The Nets signed Bogans last week. The ninth-year veteran played for the Bulls last season and averaged 4.4 points and 1.2 assists while starting in all 82 games. With the game all but decided when the final quarter began, the announced 15,327 in attendance repeatedly chanted for Bulls power forward Brian Scalabrine, who played the first four years of his career in New Jersey. He received a loud, sustained ovation when he checked in with 2:06 remaining, and when he made a jumper from the left corner. NOTES: New Jersey wore its American Basketball Association blue jerseys for the first of the five Hardwood Classics Nights the organization has scheduled for this season. . Chicago guard Richard Hamilton missed his fifth straight game with a thigh injury. He did not make the trip to Newark because of ''personal issue's he's taking care of,'' Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.