Bulls Are Back in Top Form

If this is indeed the last season for the championship edition of the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan has some advice for the team’s players, coaches and fans: Savor it.

“It should be fun. I think people realize it could possibly be the last time around, so we’ve got to enjoy it,” Jordan said Monday night after the Bulls improved to 8-0 since the All-Star break by routing the Cleveland Cavaliers, 97-75, at Chicago.

The Bulls have the best record in the East (42-15), but they want to overtake Seattle for the top mark in the league, which would give them home court advantage throughout the playoffs.

“We’d love to get it. If it happens great. If it doesn’t, we know we have to win on the road,” Jordan said after scoring 17 points and then sitting out the fourth quarter. “There is a Seattle watch on this team. You just keep putting a winning streak together and the next thing you know we can catch them and pass them.”

Luc Longley had 16 points and Scottie Pippen, who was on the bench with Jordan in the fourth quarter, had 13.

Cleveland shot 33% and had 19 turnovers.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 15 and Shawn Kemp 13 for Cleveland, which went scoreless for more than eight minutes in the first half in losing for the eighth time in 10 games.

“I can’t play like I did tonight and expect us to beat anybody,” Kemp said. “We wouldn’t beat the Clippers the way I played out there.”

Detroit 111, Sacramento 85--Grant Hill had 28 points and 13 rebounds in only 31 minutes at Auburn Hills, Mich.

The win came in Detroit’s first home game since the All-Star break. The Pistons had lost four of their previous five games.

Charlotte 118, Denver 98--Glen Rice continued his torrid scoring spree with 31 points, making five of six three-point shots at Denver.

It was the Nuggets’ eighth loss in a row.

Rice, averaging 27 points his last seven games, made 11 of 16 shots.