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Sunday, Dec. 26 8:00pm ET
Bulls tie NBA record with three assists | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- They didn't pass and they couldn't shoot. Heck, somebody in the Bulls organization couldn't even spell. Sinking to new depths in their sorry season, the Chicago Bulls tied an NBA record with just three assists, missed at least a half-dozen layups and even sent Dickey Simpkins out with the name misspelled on his uniform Sunday night in a 103-76 loss to the New Jersey Nets. "Pathetic" and "disappointing" were two of the words Bulls 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," Bulls guard Rusty LaRue said. Keith Van Horn scored 17 points -- all in the first half -- to lead six Nets players in double figures. Kendall Gill added 14, Kerry Kittles had 12 and Stephon Marbury had 12 points and 11 assists. New Jersey, which lost to Chicago earlier this month, won its seventh straight home game. The game was pretty much over 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," Simpkins joked. "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." The Nets were ahead by 16 late in the first quarter -- which was about the time Simpkins got a replacement uniform -- and by 25 before halftime. The biggest question heading into the second half was whether the Bulls, who didn't have a single assist in the first half, would get one. Corey Benjamin answered that question in the first two minutes of the third quarter, assisting on a jump hook by Elton Brand after a pair of 3-pointers by Kittles had put the Nets ahead 64-38. But Chicago finished with just three assists, all in the third quarter, to tie the NBA record reached on four prior occasions -- the last time by the Knicks in 1976 at Boston. "I'm definitely shocked by that number. That's amazing," Brand said. The Nets took control midway through the first quarter with a 8-0 run that made it 16-10. A subsequent 14-2 run, ending with a corner jumper by Scott Burrell with 2:10 left, made it 30-14. The Bulls were brutal during the Nets' big run as Chris Anstey and Brand both missed layups on one possession. Anstey also shot an airball before the quarter ended with New Jersey ahead 32-18. Simpkins returned to the game in the second quarter, just in time to see Corey Benjamin demonstrate how players who are trailing by 25 points should not behave. After driving around his defender and throwing down an emphatic slam dunk over Van Horn, Benjamin shot a look -- a mini-staredown, sort of -- at the Nets' bench. The Nets players responded by shaking their heads and chuckling -- appropriate behavior on a night when one could only laugh at what the once-mighty Bulls have become. "I think the best response was from his coach," Gill said. "He told him: `You don't do that, especially when you're down 20.' But it was a hell of a dunk."
Game notes | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Chicago Clubhouse New Jersey Clubhouse RECAPS Washington 103 Houston 92
New Jersey 103
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