CHICAGO -- Luol Deng and his teammates were embarrassed. They had scored just 29 points in the first half and trailed the Bucks by 14 points at halftime.

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Luol Deng took over the game Tuesday, scoring 24 points and pulling down 20 rebounds.

The sixth-year forward decided to take matters into his own hands. He took over the game at times during Tuesday night's 83-81 win over the Bucks and managed to will his team to victory, scoring 24 points and pulling down a career high 20 rebounds.

"We had to have somebody kind of show energy and hoping everyone would follow. And at halftime I felt like I hadn't even played yet," Deng said. "I felt like I had a lot of energy and I just wanted to go out there and play as hard as I can. Sometimes when you're struggling making shots, playing hard kind of [makes] you forget about your shots and it just comes to you."

Whatever Deng was looking for at halftime, he found it. He looked almost angry at times, single-handedly trying to bring his team back.

"Luol was tremendous," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said after the game. "Very active on the glass. (He) had some big three-point plays in the second half. He was very active all night. He was dominant. Two blocks, played really well -- just a big game from Luol."

As the game went on, Deng wasn't even sure how many different stat lines he was filling up.

"Honestly, I didn't even know until almost [the end] of the game how many rebounds I had," he admitted. "I just kept going, kept playing hard. It was just one of those nights; the ball kept coming to me. It hit the rim and would find me in a corner. Brad [Miller] was doing a good job boxing out and letting, me have them. [My] lucky day, I guess."

It was a day that Deng was just happy to be a part of. After missing a chunk of the past two seasons, the Duke alum is just glad he can be out on the floor contributing.

"I'm just happy I'm healthy. I'm happy to be out there playing," Deng said. "It's the longest I sat out not playing and I missed playing. I'm just happy that I'm out there with my teammates and I'm not on the side watching them."

Pargo gives a boost: Deng may have been the MVP of Tuesday night's game, but Jannero Pargo deserves a large amount of credit as well. The veteran guard gave the Bulls a big boost of energy off the bench in the second half and scored 10 points in the process. The feat is even more impressive when you consider that Del Negro wasn't even sure Pargo would play before the game due to a back injury.

"He can make shots," the Bulls coach said. "No one could make any shots, really, and he came in and gave us a nice spark. That was big. Both teams were struggling to score and that's what you've got those veteran guys for. Especially to come in and knock some shots down and JP was big for that."

Pargo wasn't sure if he would get in, but he was ready when he got the call.

"I knew we were going to need a spark somehow," he said. "So mentally I just prepared myself just to be ready if he called me."

The veteran guard's performance (4-for-5 from the field in 14 minutes of action) didn't surprise any of his teammates.

"This is my second time playing with Pargo. The funny thing is when he comes in, I just know he's going to get hot," Deng said. "And I think teams know it, too. He just does a good job. He knows his role, comes in, and when he started hitting shots we just wanted to keep going to him."

The last word: Del Negro on getting the win: "It was a fortunate win to be honest with you. We didn't play well at all in the first half and at times in the second half I didn't think we played great, but we gutted it out and we found a way to win which is great."

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