Bulls Win Again as Brand, Kukoc Lead Rout of Celtics

Chicago’s Rebuild-A-Bulls finally have something in common with Michael Jordan & Co. besides the name on the front of their uniforms.

Elton Brand led four Bulls in double figures with 26 points and 14 rebounds Saturday as Chicago routed the Boston Celtics, 96-79, at Chicago for its first three-game winning streak since 1998.

“We win two games in two months and then here we go and win three in a row,” Brand said. “It feels good.”

Toni Kukoc added 23 points and eight assists, and Matt Maloney, signed Friday, finished with 16 points, making three of six shots from three-point range.

The victory gives Chicago three wins a row for the first time since the 1998 NBA Finals, when the Bulls took Games 2, 3 and 4 on their way to their sixth title. Their last extended regular-season winning streak was from March 14 to April 7, 1998, when they won 13 in a row.

Chicago won two in a row only twice last season.

“I don’t go that often that far back,” Kukoc said. “Those are great memories, but the teams are, obviously, different.”

Boston, which had won three of four, was plagued by poor shooting. The Celtics missed eight of their first nine shots and made only 43% overall. Paul Pierce led the Celtics with 20 points. Antoine Walker scored 16, but he made only five of 15 shots before fouling out.

It was Boston’s second loss of the season to the Bulls. Chicago got its first victory against the Celtics.

“We’re a better team than what we showed both times we played here,” Walker said. “You don’t want your bad games to be against the Bulls. You look at those games as wins, but they came out well and I guess they looked at us as wins.”

That the Bulls’ sudden surge has coincided with Kukoc’s return from the injured list is no surprise. Besides being the closest thing to a marquee player left on Chicago’s roster, Kukoc gives the Bulls a veteran presence they desperately need. He scores, he rebounds and he frees people up by drawing double-teams.

He also plays traffic cop, running the floor like a coach. On Saturday, he was barking orders at his younger teammates, telling them where to go and creating plays when nothing seemed to be there.

He scored nine of his 11 first-half points in the second quarter as the Bulls jumped to a 37-21 lead. Boston responded with a 9-1 run, but Brand made a layup, Kukoc fed Ron Artest a rocket pass for a jumper and then followed with his own layup to give Chicago a 44-34 lead at halftime.

Milwaukee 130, Washington 129--Scott Williams’ layup with two-tenths of a second to play in the second overtime lifted the Bucks at Milwaukee.

Both teams were stretched to the absolute limit in a tight game featuring eight lead changes in the two overtimes, including three in the final 9.7 seconds.

Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, Glenn Robinson, Rod Strickland and Juwan Howard all fouled out during the second overtime before Williams made the last of a half-dozen heart-stopping shots.

Mitch Richmond, who finished with 25 points, made a desperation fallaway jumper with 1.6 seconds left to give Washington a 129-128 lead.

After a timeout, Vinny Del Negro inbounded the ball to Williams, who spun on Jahidi White and scored easily.

The Wizards’ last tip attempt finally missed.

Portland 96, Phoenix 91--Bonzi Wells scored 13 of his career-high 23 points in the fourth quarter, and Brian Grant’s dunk with 31.5 seconds to play helped the Trail Blazers rally at Portland, Ore.

Grant added 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Trail Blazers, who came back from a 10-point deficit early in the fourth quarter.

Rex Chapman led the Suns with 20 points, and Jason Kidd had 13 points and 14 assists.

Minnesota 110, Detroit 105--Terrell Brandon scored 28 points and Kevin Garnett had 22 points and 14 rebounds at Auburn Hills, Mich., as the Timberwolves ended the Pistons’ six-game winning streak.

Minnesota, which extended its winning streak to four games, improved to 16-14--the first time the Timberwolves have been two games over .500 since they were 7-5.

Sam Mitchell added a season-high 20 points for Minnesota.

Cleveland 89, New York 86--Bob Sura scored 25 points at New York, including a key three-point basket with 10.8 seconds to play, as the Cavaliers won on the road for only the third time this season.

Sura’s three-pointer came in a game-closing 14-4 run in which he accounted for eight of the Cavaliers’ points.

The Cavaliers, who blew an early 17-point lead, ended a seven-game road losing streak and have won two in a row for the first time since the second week of December.

Lamond Murray added 15 points for the Cavaliers.

New Jersey 90, Miami 89--Scott Burrell made one of three free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining to lift the Nets at Miami.

Stephon Marbury had 20 points and 11 assists, and Kerry Kittles and Kendall Gill each scored 16 points for the Nets, who made 10 of 21 three-point shots.

Alonzo Mourning had 23 points, 18 rebounds and six blocks for the Heat. Dan Majerle scored a season-high 20 points and made six of 10 three-point shots.

Dallas 95, Atlanta 85--Michael Finley had 28 points, nine assists and six rebounds at Dallas as the Mavericks ended a five-game losing streak.

Dallas was 1-9 in its previous 10 and had not won at Reunion Arena since a 120-115 decision over the Suns on Dec. 11.

The loss pushed Atlanta’s road losing streak to seven games and dropped the Hawks to 2-14 away from home. Atlanta (12-21) has lost 10 of 12 games and is off to its worst start since the 1976-77 season.

Atlanta built an 11-point lead midway through the third quarter, but Finley kept Dallas close with 13 points in the quarter on five-of-six shooting.

Dallas center Shawn Bradley provided a spark when he got a technical foul for shoving LaPhonso Ellis with 1:16 to play in the third quarter. Bradley was roughed up by Utah’s Karl Malone two nights earlier but fought back against Ellis after a hard foul.

Utah 103, Houston 87--Malone scored 32 points at Houston as the Jazz extended its winning streak to six games.

The Rockets lost to the Jazz for the 11th consecutive time in regular-season games. The loss was their third in a row and fifth in six games.

Bryon Russell matched his career high with 25 points and added 10 rebounds for the Jazz. Houston’s Carlos Rogers made a free throw in the final seconds to equal his career high of 28 points.

San Antonio 127, Orlando 92--Tim Duncan scored 22 points as the Spurs romped at San Antonio.

The NBA champions put the Magic away early, using a 24-0 run to take a 27-4 lead before the Magic made a shot.

Orlando, coached by former Spur player Doc Rivers, missed its first nine shots and had six turnovers before Monty Williams made a layup with 3:39 to play in the first quarter.

“This was the worst of the year,” said Rivers, whose team has lost seven of eight. “We are an energy team and tonight we had no energy. Maybe some teams can play with little energy and do well, but not us.”

Duncan played only 27 minutes, and David Robinson had 15 points and 13 rebounds in only 21 minutes. Reserve Malik Rose had 19 points and seven rebounds in a team-high 29 minutes.

Denver 97, Charlotte 92--Nick Van Exel made seven of 11 three-pointers and scored 32 points at Denver as the Nuggets beat the Hornets for the first time in nine meetings.

Van Exel, who also had eight assists, made 11 of 20 shots. Ron Mercer added 24 points, and Raef LaFrentz had 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Nuggets.

Elden Campbell led Charlotte with 21 points and 14 rebounds, and reserve Brad Miller added 20 points and nine rebounds.

The Hornets, who last lost to the Nuggets on Dec. 3, 1994, have lost five in a row overall and seven consecutive games on the road.

“Our main guy [Eddie Jones] isn’t here,” Charlotte Coach Paul Silas said of the injured guard. “That’s 19 points a night we are not getting and we are losing by four or five a night.”

Around the League

Cleveland rookie guard Trajan Langdon, who has sat out 22 games because of a knee injury, was put on the injured list. Langdon, taken with the 11th pick in the draft, was activated from the injured list Wednesday after suffering a bruised right knee in November. He averaged 4.9 points in 10 games before getting hurt. The Cavaliers also re-signed forward Mark Hendrickson to a 10-day contract.