Bulls Fail to Break Their Losing Spell

The players didn’t pass and they couldn’t shoot. And somebody in the Chicago organization couldn’t spell.

Sinking to new depths in their difficult season, the Chicago Bulls tied an NBA record with only three assists, missed at least a half-dozen layups and sent Dickey Simpkins out with his name misspelled on his uniform Sunday night in a 103-76 loss to the New Jersey Nets at East Rutherford, N.J.

“Pathetic” and “disappointing” were two of the words Bull Coach Tim Floyd used to describe the effort, which was Chicago’s most lopsided loss of the season. The Bulls (2-22) remained on pace to eclipse the worst record in NBA history--9-73 by the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers.

“Sometimes when it rains, it pours,” Chicago guard Rusty LaRue said.

Keith Van Horn scored 17 points--all in the first half--to lead six Nets in double figures. Kendall Gill added 14, Kerry Kittles had 12 and Stephon Marbury had 12 points and 11 assists.

The Nets, who lost to the Bulls earlier this month, won their seventh consecutive home game.

The game was pretty much decided shortly after Simpkins discovered he was wearing a uniform emblazoned with the name “Smipkins” on the back. A team spokesman explained that a new shipment of uniforms had just been unpacked before the game and no one had noticed the mistake.

“I thought I was from overseas, a foreign player,” joked Simpkins, who got a replacement with the correct spelling late in the fourth quarter. “I heard someone say something about my jersey, but I thought he was just harassing me. I said: ‘I don’t come to your job and harass you, why are you harassing me?’ Then I went over to the bench and found out my jersey was messed up.”

Phoenix 108, Golden State 88--Cliff Robinson scored 25 points in three quarters as the Suns routed the Warriors at Phoenix.

Robinson, counted on heavily for scoring by the short-handed Suns, has averaged 25.6 points in his last nine games.

Jason Kidd added 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds as the Suns improved to 5-2 under new Coach Scott Skiles, even though the team is without starters Tom Gugliotta, Penny Hardaway and Shawn Marion.

Gugliotta was scheduled to return to action Sunday after missing four games because of a seizure suffered Dec. 17 on the team bus at Portland.

But he is still bothered by headaches apparently caused by a spinal tap performed following the seizure.

Sacramento 118, Dallas 111--Chris Webber scored 31 points and the Kings led from start to finish in a victory at Sacramento.

The Kings had a 21-point lead at halftime and the margin remained in double figures for much of the game as the Mavericks lost for the eighth time in 10 games.

The Mavericks cut the lead to six points three times late in the fourth quarter, but the Kings responded with a basket each time.

Milwaukee 93, Miami 85--Glenn Robinson scored 13 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and Ray Allen added 22 as the Bucks won at Milwaukee.

Robinson, who was supplanted by Allen as the Bucks’ leading scorer last week, made five of eight shots in the fourth quarter and sealed the victory on a 20-footer with 1:15 to play that was the game’s final field goal. The Heat had cut the Bucks’ 18-point lead to 74-72 with eight minutes to play.

Philadelphia 92, Seattle 86--Allen Iverson scored 34 points to help lead the 76ers to a victory at Seattle.

The 76ers scored the last eight points as they swept the season series from the SuperSonics for the first time since the 1991-92 season.

Toronto 98, Cleveland 95--Vince Carter scored 36 points at Cleveland, including a decisive three-point shot with 51 seconds left, as the Raptors handed the Cavaliers their seventh consecutive loss.

Carter broke an 88-88 tie with a 26-foot jump shot from the left wing as the shot clock was about to expire to put Toronto ahead to stay.

Detroit 114, Charlotte 96--Grant Hill scored 30 points and Jerome Williams added a career-high 21 rebounds to help the Pistons win at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Both teams entered the game having lost two in a row, but the Hornets had preceded theirs with an eight-game winning streak. The Pistons have struggled for weeks to get above .500.

Washington 103, Houston 92--Mitch Richmond scored 27 points as the Wizards ruined Steve Francis’ homecoming to the Washington area.

The Wizards took the lead for good when they scored the final seven points of the first half and the first nine points of the third quarter to take a 58-42 lead two minutes into the second half. The win was the Wizards’ fourth in five games. The only loss was 105-89 to the Rockets Thursday night.

Denver 109, Vancouver 86--Antonio McDyess and Nick Van Exel scored 22 points apiece at Denver as the Nuggets matched their victory total from last season, 14, in only their 26th game.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies, losers of 10 of 11 road games and 2-2 since Lionel Hollins replaced Brian Hill as coach.