The Chicago Bulls snapped a six-game losing streak in Cleveland
with an 84-78 victory over the Cavaliers on Thursday, with Luol
Deng leading the way for the visitors with 18 points and Ben
Wallace in dominant form.
The Bulls, who had lost five of six games heading into the
All-Star break, turned in a solid effort and put the game away with
a 14-5 run in the fourth quarter for a second straight victory.
Chicago also made all 12 shots from the free throw line while
the Cavaliers, the NBA's worst free throw-shooting team, sank just
eight of their 16 shots from the line.
Ben Wallace had 14 points, hauled down 19 rebounds and had a
season-high seven blocks for the Bulls, and also made two crucial
free throws late in the quarter to help seal the win.
Wallace is just a 41 percent shooter from the line.
"We did a great job of moving the ball around," Wallace told
reporters.
"Everybody was playing together. When we play together like that
and keep the game simple, good things usually happen for us."
Ben Gordon scored 16 points for the Bulls, while Kirk Hinrich
added 11 points as Chicago shot 44 percent from the field to just
38 percent for the Cavs.
LeBron James led the Cavaliers with 29 points and seven
rebounds, while Larry Hughes added 20 points and eight rebounds but
Cleveland could not overcome the absence of several regulars.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas sat out a fourth straight game to attend to a
family health matter and Sasha Pavlovic and Damon Jones missed the
game due to illness.
"We had three of our top eight guys inactive," James said. "It's
going to be tough for us to win with those guys out"
The Bulls (31-25) pulled to within a game and a half of the
second-place Cavaliers (32-23) in the Central Division standings
with the win.
The Miami Heat returned to the arena where they won the NBA
championship for the first time since taking the title last June,
but were mauled by the Dallas Mavericks 112-100.
Dirk Nowitzki had 31 points and 11 rebounds for the Mavs, while
the Heat were without Dwyane Wade due to a shoulder injury.
(China Daily via Agencies February 25, 2007)