Gilliam Rescues the Bucks

The third option in the Milwaukee Bucks’ offense was the best one Monday night.

Armon Gilliam scored 16 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and Milwaukee shot 77% in the period to pull away to a 100-88 victory over the Magic at Orlando, Fla.

The loss was the Magic’s third in six games at Orlando Arena this month. They only lost four times at home last season.

The Bucks only took 13 shots from the field in the last quarter, and made 10. Gilliam scored 11 of his team’s first 17 points, then made five free throws in the final 2:34 to help put the game away.

“Glenn [Robinson] and Vin [Baker] were doubled quite a bit, and I was the open man,” said Gilliam, who made seven of 12 shots. “I had some good looks from 15 feet. Thank God I made them, finally. I was struggling from that range the last couple of games.”

Robinson scored 23 points and Gilliam, whose offense enabled the Bucks to weather a scoreless second half for Baker, grabbed 14 rebounds.

Nick Anderson led Orlando with 25 points.

Washington 105, Minnesota 98--Juwan Howard scored 24 points and the Bullets held the Timberwolves to 12 points in the first quarter and built an 18-point halftime lead en route to victory at Landover, Md.

Chris Webber had 16 points and 15 rebounds as the Bullets moved over .500 for the first time since opening night. Washington never trailed in beating the Timberwolves for the fourth consecutive time since December 1994.

The Timberwolves trailed by 24 in the second quarter but closed to 84-79 with 4:13 remaining before Webber and Howard made successive layups to put the game out of reach.

“Of course there was concern, but there was no need to panic,” Webber said. “We knew they were going to make a run at us; we’re just glad we were able to outlast them.”

Tom Gugliotta had 25 points and 12 rebounds for Minnesota, which has lost four of five overall and six straight on the road. Rookie Stephon Marbury, playing with a sprained right ankle, had 13 points in 21 minutes.

Utah 108, New Jersey 92--Karl Malone had 27 points and 16 rebounds as the Jazz won its seventh consecutive game by beating the Nets at Salt Lake City.

Jeff Hornacek added 19 points for the Jazz, who handed the Nets their worst loss of the season.

Utah used an 18-7 run at the start of the second half to take an 83-53 lead. Malone scored 10 points in the run, which he completed by making one of two free throws following a flagrant foul by Jayson Williams.

Tony Massenburg, Kerry Kittles and Ed O’Bannon each scored 12 points for New Jersey.