That's precisely what the Bulls did as they shrugged off a slow start and controlled the second half en route to a 92-85 victory over the Spurs, who are considered one of the elite teams in the league.

''I thought we played harder than them,'' forward Luol Deng said. ''I'm not taking anything away from them -- they're a great team -- but I thought we won the game because we had more energy.''

Deng got no argument from Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who saw his team follow up Wednesday's win against New Orleans with a dud. Except for Tim Duncan (28 points, 16 rebounds), the Spurs didn't give much of a fight.

''Chicago just did a great job out there,'' he said. ''They had more guys come to compete than we did. We had one. They deserved it, and I'm happy for Vinny.''

Deng (17 points, nine rebounds) led six Bulls in double figures. He shot 8-for-13 and was one of the few Bulls who had any sort of offensive rhythm throughout.

It was a perfect start for a player who essentially missed six months with a stress fracture of the lower right leg.

''I'm just glad the season started,'' Deng said. ''Like I said before, it will answer a lot of questions rather than me standing up ... every day and trying to answer questions. Me going and just playing will answer things.''

Another player who showed he was healthy -- or at least on the road to being healthy -- was Derrick Rose, who had 13 points and seven assists in 33 minutes in his first game in nearly a month because of an ankle injury.

The key now is to see how the ankle responds tonight, when the Bulls play the second half of a back-to-back set in Boston.

''We need the win,'' Rose said. ''That's the only thing. I don't care about my injuries or anything else. We have to suck it up and try to get the win.''

The Bulls got off to a sluggish start offensively mainly because they couldn't make many early shots. They began by connecting on just 5 of 17 field-goal attempts.

The Bulls rallied within 23-22 at the end of the first quarter and then took a 47-46 lead after two as Kirk Hinrich (14 points) hit a three-pointer just eight-tenths of a second before halftime after Deng fought for an offensive rebound.

The Bulls were able to grab the lead despite going 18-for-48 (37.5 percent) from the field in the first half. The key was offensive rebounding, where the Bulls posted a 10-1 edge that produced a 19-0 advantage in second-chance points.

Tyrus Thomas (13 points) bounced back from a scoreless first half with a strong third quarter, during which he scored 10 points.

With Thomas contributing and others playing well, the Bulls put together a 21-6 run during a six-minute stretch in the third quarter to take a 70-58 lead. The Bulls led 74-64 entering the fourth quarter.

And by finally making shots and continuing to play strong defense (except on Duncan), the Bulls cruised to the win.

''It's improved,'' Rose said of the defense. ''I told you that's what we were like in practice, helping each other and holding each other accountable for guarding your man.''

Bulls NOTES

Derrick Rose started in Thursday night's opener against the San Antonio Spurs and had no limitations from a medical standpoint. Coach Vinny Del Negro was intent on closely monitoring Rose's minutes but ended up playing the point guard 33 minutes as he works his way back from an ankle injury. ''It's more than I expected, but I just wanted to be out there,'' Rose said of his playing time. ''I really didn't think about the minutes until some other people asked me. I'm happy [Del Negro] put me out there.'' ... Rose played just over six minutes in the first quarter before heading to the bench. He didn't score in the opening quarter but did produce a highlight when he blocked a shot by the Spurs' Richard Jefferson on a fast break two minutes into the game. He played 16 first-half minutes, finishing with nine points on 4-for-9 shooting, three rebounds and two assists. He ended the game with 13 points and seven assists. ... For opening night, the Bulls changed and expanded their pregame introductions. Before the usual animation of Bulls rampaging through downtown en route to the United Center, a video of highlights from last season (to the music of the Black Eyed Peas' ''I Got a Feeling'') was shown on the UC scoreboard. Then, instead of the starters coming from the bench area to the court after being introduced, each entered through the stands from the 100 level, slapping hands with the fans as they came down. ... This was the Spurs' second game. They opened with a 113-96 victory over New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday in San Antonio, a game in which the bench racked up 61 points. ''I think their bench played well,'' Del Negro said. ''With the addition of Jefferson, and [Antonio] McDyess, George Hill, [Roger] Mason and [DeJuan] Blair are coming off the bench. [Michael] Finley looks like he's in stride early, so they have a lot of weapons. They have a different team and a different style they can play at times.''

John Jackson

THE RECAP

San Antonio 23 23 18 21 -- 85

Bulls 22 25 27 18 -- 92

Spurs min fg-a ft-a o-t a pf pts

Jefferson 30:21 3-9 3-6 0-2 1 2 9

Duncan 34:23 13-19 2-4 2-16 2 3 28

Bonner 19:42 3-6 0-0 1-5 1 2 7

Parker 34:40 4-11 0-1 0-3 3 2 8

Finley 28:04 2-5 1-1 0-2 1 1 6

Ginobili 26:04 3-11 5-5 3-6 4 3 12

McDyess 16:23 0-4 1-2 0-3 1 2 1

Mason 17:39 0-4 0-0 0-1 2 1 0

Hill 17:18 2-6 3-4 0-2 0 2 8

Blair 12:43 3-3 0-0 2-4 0 4 6

Ratliff 2:43 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Totals 240:00 33-78 15-23 8-44 15 23 85

Percentages: FG .423, FT .652. 3-Point Goals: 4-21, .190 (Hill 1-2, Finley 1-3, Bonner 1-4, Ginobili 1-6, Jefferson 0-3, Mason 0-3). Team Rebounds: 10. Team Turnovers: 13 (18 pts). Blocked Shots: 5 (Duncan 3, Hill, Parker). Turnovers: 13 (Parker 3, Duncan 2, Hill 2, Blair, Bonner, Finley, Ginobili, Jefferson, McDyess). Steals: 5 (Duncan 2, Hill 2, Ginobili). Technical Fouls: None.

Bulls min fg-a ft-a o-t a pf pts

Deng 37:46 8-13 1-2 4-9 2 2 17

Thomas 26:22 5-10 3-5 0-6 0 2 13

Noah 26:57 4-8 2-4 6-10 3 2 10

Rose 33:08 5-12 3-5 1-7 7 2 13

Salmons 39:51 3-15 3-4 0-3 2 3 10

Hinrich 29:44 5-11 2-2 0-6 2 2 14

Gibson 15:38 1-6 4-5 3-6 1 3 6

Miller 23:11 4-6 1-1 1-5 3 3 9

Pargo 7:23 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Totals 240:00 35-84 19-28 15-52 20 20 92

Percentages: FG .417, FT .679. 3-Point Goals: 3-16, .188 (Hinrich 2-5, Salmons 1-9, Miller 0-1, Rose 0-1). Team Rebounds: 5. Team Turnovers: 9 (9 pts). Blocked Shots: 9 (Thomas 3, Hinrich 2, Noah 2, Pargo, Rose).

Turnovers: 9 (Noah 2, Salmons 2, Thomas 2, Deng, Hinrich, Rose). Steals: 5 (Salmons 3, Deng, Rose). Technical Fouls: Defensive three second, 8:00 second.

Officials--Scott Foster, Leon Wood, Sean Wright.

A--21,412 (20,917). T--2:29.

Tonight

Bulls AT Celtics

The facts: 7, Ch.9, ESPN, 1000-AM.

The story line: The Bulls head

to Boston for a rematch of the teams' exciting first-round playoff series from last season. But there are two key differences: Kevin Garnett is back for the 2-0 Celtics, and the Bulls no longer have Ben Gordon.

John Jackson

BY THE NUMBER

19-0 Bulls' advantage in second-chance points in first half.