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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
CHICAGO (AP) -- Despite towels pressed against his nose and blood
dripping down his face, there was no way Andre Miller was staying
out of the game.
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Miller scored 13 points after taking a knee to the nose in the third quarter, and then iced the game on a pair of free throws with nine seconds left Wednesday night as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Chicago Bulls 92-88.
"Everybody was kind of flat. After I hurt my nose, I used it
for energy to go out and make things happen," said Miller, who
finished with 20 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds.
Clarence Weatherspoon led the Cavaliers with 23 points, one shy of his season high, and eight rebounds. Chris Gatling added 19
points.
The Bulls almost pulled off the victory, as Ron Mercer scored 12 points in the final eight minutes -- despite still feeling the
effects of the flu that kept him out of Tuesday night's game.
With 56 seconds left, Mercer cut Cleveland's lead to 86-84 on a
dunk off a smooth, one-handed pass from Khalid El-Amin. After
Miller hit two free throws with 35 seconds left, Mercer responded
with two of his own.
Weatherspoon then scored on a layup, and Miller made another pair of free throws with 8.9 seconds left to seal the game.
"This kid is a tough kid," Cleveland coach Randy Wittman said of Miller. "He sat there about 40 seconds with blood going everywhere. He didn't want to hear anything about sitting there."
Mercer, whose body still aches and nose is still stuffed up, scored a season-high 34 points and had seven rebounds. Ron Artest scored 20 and Marcus Fizer had 14 for the Bulls, who were playing
without Elton Brand for a second straight night.
Brand, Chicago's leading scorer, has a hyperextended left knee.
"I'm feeling weak, my body's drained because I haven't been eating a lot," a weary-looking Mercer said. "I just tried to go out and play hard and tried not to think about it."
Miller didn't know what to think of his nose at first. He was
diving for a loose ball around the Bulls basket with about six
minutes left in the third quarter when he collided with teammate
Zydrunas Ilgauskas' right knee.
Blood started spurting from Miller's nose, and trainers rushed onto the floor with towels to stop the bleeding.
"I didn't feel it at first, and just looked down and saw it bleeding," he said.
A timeout was called while Miller stayed on the floor, towels pressed against his face. He finally walked to the bench and took a seat, head tilted back, a towel to his nose.
"When I saw Andre on the bench, I crossed myself," Gatling said. "But he's got the heart of a lion. He's a very good competitor at a young age. Sometimes, you've just got to suck it up."
A minute later, Miller was back in the game and on a tear. After scoring only one point before the blow, he ripped off nine straight. If not for a short jumper by Ilgauskas, it would have been 13 straight.
His scoring spurt couldn't have come at a better time. After trailing the Bulls for most of the game, Miller's driving layup gave Cleveland a 60-59 lead with 2:07 left in the third. When he made another layup with 42 seconds left to end his run, it gave the Cavaliers a 67-62 lead.
"I don't know what it was, but he was certainly more aggressive," Bulls coach Tim Floyd said. "He has a great ability to make something happen not only for himself but for everybody else."
Game notes
Mercer's previous high was 30 at Atlanta on Nov. 30. ...
Robert Traylor scored all nine of his points in the second quarter. ... Chris Mihm and Jamal Crawford got a look at what might have been Wednesday night. The Bulls took Mihm with the seventh overall
pick in last summer's draft, and then traded him to the Cavaliers,
who had taken Crawford at No. 8. "I never talked to (the Cavaliers), never worked out for them, never heard anything about them, so when I was drafted, I was shocked," Crawford said. The guard said he was a Cavalier for less than 10 minutes when he was
told he'd been traded, and he and Mihm quickly swapped the hats they'd been wearing.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Cleveland Clubhouse
Chicago Clubhouse
RECAPS
LA Clippers 93
Washington 88
Charlotte 91
Indiana 88
Miami 95
Denver 78
Milwaukee 109
New Jersey 87
Cleveland 92
Chicago 88
Dallas 94
New York 85
Portland 95
Toronto 88
Detroit 112
Seattle 99
Golden State 125
LA Lakers 122
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