RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
CHICAGO (AP) -- Just when the Chicago Bulls got close, there was
Stephon Marbury kicking the door shut on them.
First there was a 3-pointer, swishing perfectly through the net.
Then, after a Chicago turnover, he put up a shot, missed, chased
down his own rebound and threw it up from under the basket for a
reverse.
Just like that, the game was all but over.
"He could have scored 50," Bulls coach Tim Floyd said. "He
just toyed with us. He took the basketball where he wanted to take
it, when he wanted to take it."
Marbury finished with 33 points Friday night as the New Jersey
Nets beat Chicago 92-82. It was their first victory in Chicago
after 10 straight losses, and rookie coach Byron Scott got the game
ball afterward.
"I called and left a message for (Pat Riley) after he won his
1,000th, and I told him I was only 1,000 behind him," Scott said.
"Now it's 999. I'm catching up."
He has Marbury to thank. Marbury was still smarting from the
season opener Tuesday night, when he scored just nine points on
3-of-17 shooting against the Cavaliers. Looking back, he was too
hyper, he said, too eager.
So he settled down, got serious and attacked the Bulls from the
opening tipoff.
"I just wanted to go out and play as hard as I could," Marbury
said. "I got off too slow against Cleveland. ... For me to play
the way I did against Cleveland and to bounce back, that was a plus
for me."
The Bulls cut New Jersey's lead to 59-50 with 4:17 left in the
third quarter, the first time they got within 10 since the end of
the first quarter. But Marbury hit his 3-pointer, and that was the
end of that Chicago run.
A pair of free throws and a layup from Aaron Williams, and the
Nets were back up 68-52 with 1:24 left in the third.
Bryce Drew's 3-pointer, steal and a 9-footer started a spurt
that got the Bulls within 79-69 with 5:32 left in the game, but
they could never get under that 10-point barrier.
Elton Brand led the Bulls with 20 points and 11 rebounds, and
Drew and Ron Mercer added 10 each.
Kendall Gill added 18 for New Jersey and Evan Eschmeyer grabbed
13 rebounds.
"This team, they came out and played with their heart. They
really took it to us," Brand said. "We didn't come out with a lot
of fight. I don't know the reason behind it."
The Bulls had trouble shooting (41 percent), making free throws
(64 percent), handling the ball (20 turnovers) and getting rebounds
(41 to New Jersey's 45).
"We're still turning it over to much. Same thing," Bulls coach
Tim Floyd said. "Any time we cut it to nine or 10, we turned it
over."
Chicago got off to an impressive start as Mercer had
back-to-back steals, feeding Khalid El-Amin with a give-and-go
before taking it in for the easy layup. In just 47 seconds, the
Bulls had a 6-0 lead.
But those three quick baskets were about the only highlights for
the Bulls in the first half. Marbury had his way with Chicago,
shooting at will. On a fly-by layup, he blew past El-Amin and Fred
Hoiberg as if they were standing still.
And when he wasn't shooting, he was feeding teammates Kenyon
Martin and Gill, who threw down a pair of pretty alley-oops in a
9-2 run that gave New Jersey a 47-26 lead with 4:01 left in the
half.
"It wasn't just his points, it was the points he created on the
floor," Floyd said.
The Nets went cold after that, not scoring again in the half.
But the Bulls couldn't do much with the break. They managed just
seven points, and Ron Artest's dunk off a steal by Mercer was their
only field goal.
Game
notes
Much has been made of Bulls rookie Marcus Fizer's switch
from power to small forward, but Fizer said it's really no big
deal. "I'm not a 3, a 4, a 5. I'm a basketball player," he said.
"Whatever position they put me at, I'm going to go out and work my
hardest to make this organization proud of drafting me." ...
Mercer had six assists. ... The Nets outscored the Bulls 42-24 in
the paint.
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NBA Scoreboard
New Jersey Clubhouse
Chicago Clubhouse
RECAPS
New York 80
Washington 76
Boston 93
Toronto 91
Charlotte 83
Miami 79
Philadelphia 87
Orlando 80
Sacramento 100
Detroit 93
New Jersey 92
Chicago 82
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