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Saturday, Feb. 19 8:30pm ET
Bulls win ugly over Clippers | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
CHICAGO (AP) -- This won't be a victory the Chicago Bulls look back on with pride. Chris Carr hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left, and Will Perdue sealed the victory with his only free throw of the night Saturday night as the Bulls held on to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 74-72 in a matchup of the NBA's worst teams. Eric Piatkowski tipped in Michael Olowokandi's miss with 5.8 seconds to go, but the Clippers dropped the inbounds pass on their next possession and Troy Hudson missed a long 3-pointer at the buzzer. "It's tough," Hudson said. "We really, really needed this win." The loss gives the Clippers the dubious distinction of fewest victories (11) and worst winning percentage (.208) in the league. It also spoiled the bench debut of Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Clippers' newest assistant coach. The Bulls won despite tying the NBA season-low with 28.6 percent shooting from the floor. They shot a dismal 10 percent -- yes, 10 percent -- in the third quarter. The difference came at the free-throw line, with the Bulls taking 27 more shots (40-13). "The disparity from the foul line disturbed me," Clippers coach Jim Todd said. "That's the bounces of the ball, I suppose." Carr led the Bulls with a season-high 19 points and Hersey Hawkins added 14. Elton Brand had another double-double, grabbing 18 rebounds to go with his 13 points. Hudson tied his career high with 22 points, and Lamar Odom added 19 for the Clippers. "We shot so poorly -- I hope we never shoot like that again," Brand said. "It gives us confidence to go out there shoot as poorly as we did and still win." After trailing by as much as 11 in the third quarter, the Bulls tied it at 63 with 4:36 left in the game on a 3-pointer from Hawkins and two free throws from Carr. The Clippers pulled ahead three more times only to have the Bulls answer right back. Finally, with 44 seconds left, Hudson made the second of two free throws to give the Clippers a 70-69 lead. After a timeout, Brand took a short jumper, missed, grabbed his own rebound and then kicked out to Carr on the right wing for the 3. "I was just screaming at him, 'Elton! Elton! Elton!"' Carr said. "Finally, he looked over at me and kicked it out. I just set my feet and knocked it down." Hudson missed a jumper and Perdue grabbed the rebound and was fouled. He made the second of two -- making him 1-for-5 from the line for the night -- to give Chicago a 73-70 lead. Had the Bulls been playing anyone but the Clippers, they probably wouldn't have been around for the comeback. The Bulls made only two of their 20 shots in the third, while the Clippers went on an 11-0 run and took a 53-42 lead with 7:35 left. But the Bulls were saved again by free throws. They made 9-of-11 in the third quarter, including Ron Artest's two with 7.5 seconds left that kept Chicago within 58-54. "About the only good thing about tonight was the outcome," Purdue said. Game notesJohn Starks, who came to Chicago from Golden State on Wednesday as part of the Toni Kukoc trade, had two points in 14 minutes in his first game for the Bulls. He was 0-for-6 from the field. ... Clippers forward Maurice Taylor was helped off the floor with 10:12 left after injuring his left knee, but the injury wasn't as bad as it initially looked. He went up to contend Matt Maloney's driving layup and as he landed, his left foot slipped forward and his leg locked up. His foot rolled and he collapsed to the ground. "I thought I would have torn an ACL or something from the way it buckled," Taylor said. "They just told me to see how it feels in the morning." ... Bulls guard Randy Brown aggravated a bruised toe in the first quarter and did not return. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard LA Clippers Clubhouse Chicago Clubhouse RECAPS New York 87 Indiana 73
Chicago 74
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