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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Chicago Bulls were just a little less
awful than the Washington Wizards, enough to end a franchise-record
25-game road losing streak and become royalty for a day.
The Bulls beat the Wizards 113-109 Wednesday night, their first
victory on the road since a 104-86 triumph at Boston on Dec. 13.
"All in all, we're still a horrible, horrible team, but we got
the win," Chicago forward Ron Artest said. "I'm happy to go home
and go out. When we get a win, it's like winning the championship
back in Chicago. We can lose 50 in a row and get one win and be
king, so we can go home and be king."
Imagine, then, how the Wizards feel.
"You look at their record," Washington forward Loy Vaught
said, "all the rookies they have, all the young players, you feel
like there's not a real good excuse you can come up with why you
should lose a game like this, especially at home."
The Bulls are 3-36 on the road all season, their only other
victory away from the United Center coming at Atlanta on Nov. 30.
Elton Brand scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and
thwarted the Wizards' last chance by intercepting an inbounds pass
with three seconds left. He led five Chicago players in double
figures as the Bulls, for at least one more game, postponed
clinching a new low for season winning percentage.
Chicago (13-65), still needs to win its last four to match its worst-ever 17-65 record of last year.
The Wizards, losing their sixth consecutive game and fourth in a
row at home, are headed toward their own mark of futility. If they
lose their remaining four games, their 18-64 record will be worse
than the 18-62 mark set by the first-year Chicago Packers in
1961-62, two years before the franchise moved to the
Baltimore-Washington area.
The game pitted Michael Jordan's awful former team against his
awful present one, with rumors abounding Jordan will step down as
Wizards president of basketball operations and return as a player.
One sign summed up a Bulls fan's feelings: "Hey M.J., Chicago says
stop this foolishness and come back home."
Jordan himself wasn't at the game, letting stand his assertion
that he's "99 percent sure" he'll never play again.
Rookie Courtney Alexander scored a career-high 28 points, and
Richard Hamilton added 25 points for the Wizards. All five
Washington starters scored in double figures.
Marcus Fizer scored 21 points on 10-for-14 shooting, and Artest
had 17 points and a career-high nine assists for the Bulls.
Vaught, who had only 32 total points in 11 games since joining
the Wizards on Feb. 22, scored all eight of his points in the
fourth quarter. His baseline jumper with 35.2 seconds remaining put
the Wizards ahead 109-108, their first lead since the first
quarter.
But Fizer tipped in Brand's miss with 20.5 seconds left. Vaught
was given a chance to win the game, but he missed another baseline
jumper with seven seconds remaining.
Jamal Crawford then made one of two free throws with 4.3 seconds
left to put Chicago up 111-109. Washington had one last chance, but
Brand picked off Laron Profit's inbounds pass and fed Crawford for
a breakaway dunk at the final buzzer.
"We had four guys out on the floor late who should still be in
college," Chicago coach Tim Floyd said. "I thought they played
with a lot more poise than they could have early in the season."
With neither team playing much defense, the game was a scorefest
of alternating runs. The Bulls led by as many as 15 in the second
quarter, but the Wizards tied the game once in the third quarter
and twice in the fourth before Vaught finally gave them a brief
lead.
Washington shot a season-high 63 percent from the field, but
committed 23 turnovers. Chicago shot 54 percent and had 15
turnovers. Of the game's 222 points, 126 were scored in the paint.
Game notes
Wizards forward Christian Laettner missed the game with the
flu. ... Bulls center Brad Miller sat out with a sore right knee.
Swingman Ron Mercer didn't make the trip because of tendinitis in
his right ankle. ... Miller's injury allowed rookie Jake Voshkuhl
to make his first career start, but he played only 12 minutes and
scored four points. ... Profit had a career-high 14 assists. ...
The game was delayed briefly in the second quarter when one of the
24-second clocks started skipping odd numbers, going from 24 to 22
to 20, etc. Substitute clocks were found and placed on the floor at
each end.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Chicago Clubhouse
Washington Clubhouse
RECAPS
Miami 102
Boston 97
Chicago 113
Washington 109
Atlanta 107
Cleveland 102
Detroit 99
Toronto 87
Indiana 100
New York 93
Phoenix 111
Dallas 106
Seattle 107
Golden State 101
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