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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
BOSTON (AP) -- Two of the NBA's proudest franchises got together on Wednesday night and had a contest to see which had fallen farther.
|  | | Ron Mercer, left, led the Bulls past Bryant Stith and his former team with 27 points. |
The winner -- or in this case, the loser: the Boston Celtics.
Ron Mercer scored 27 points to lead the Chicago Bulls to just their third win of the season and their biggest since Michael
Jordan retired, a 104-86 victory over Boston.
"At this point, I am just glad to get a win," said Mercer, a
first-round draft pick by the Celtics in 1997 who is already with
his fourth team. "At this point, we need wins. Hopefully, this can
be a starting point for us."
Ron Artest scored 19 points with 10 rebounds for the Bulls, who
snapped a six-game losing streak. Chicago, which at 3-19 still has
the worst record in the NBA, topped 100 points for the first time
this season and improved to 1-13 in games decided by 10 points or
more.
"We took 10 steps back tonight," said Boston's Paul Pierce,
who scored all nine of his points in the first half, and all of
them from the free throw line. "We talk about the playoffs all the
time, and we can't even beat a 2-19 team in our own house. We are
an average team. We don't do the things needed to win."
The Bulls are rebuilding after winning six NBA titles with Jordan in the 1990s. The Celtics have won an NBA record 16 championships, but none since 1986, and their rebuilding effort shows no sign of ending any time soon.
"It's disappointing," said Antoine Walker, who scored 15 for
the Celtics. "A fact's a fact: They're a 2-19 team and we blew an
opportunity. We can't run away from it; we can't deny it."
The Bulls led by seven points at the half and built the lead to
17 before Vitaly Potapenko scored the last two baskets of the third
quarter to cut Chicago's lead to 85-72. The Bulls put together an
11-0 run while holding the Celtics scoreless for 4:51 early in the
fourth quarter to put the game away.
After Adrian Griffin's basket cut Chicago's lead to 13 with
10:31 left, Marcus Fizer scored to his a basket to make it 89-74.
Michael Ruffin missed two free throws for Chicago, but Walker was
called for a lane violation on the second; on the re-try, Ruffin
missed again, but the Bulls got the rebound.
Fizer tried for a layup, but Tony Battie was called for a
flagrant foul. Fizer made both free throws, then Fred Hoiberg hit a
3-pointer to give the Bulls a 94-74 lead.
At the other end, Hoiberg stripped the ball from Griffin and fed
Mercer for a fast-break dunk. Fizer added another basket to make it
98-74, Chicago's biggest lead of the game.
The crowd was announced at 13,529, but there were thousands of no-shows and perhaps a thousand remaining at the end to boo the Celtics off the court after an extended garbage time that embarrassed both teams. The fans let out a sarcastic cheer when the public address announcer announced, "Two minutes to play in the
game."
Game notes
Rick Pitino, who was looking for his 100th win as the
Celtics coach, won his Boston debut against Chicago on Oct. 31,
1997. That was surprising, considering that Boston had won 15 games
the year before and the Bulls, who still had Jordan, won 69 en
route to the NBA title. ... The Celtics have not won consecutive
games since Nov. 22-24. ... The teams split last year, with each
team winning twice at home. ... Chicago has won once by 17 points
in each of the past two seasons.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Chicago Clubhouse
Boston Clubhouse
RECAPS
Chicago 104
Boston 86
Indiana 97
Dallas 92
Philadelphia 102
Washington 82
Charlotte 101
Sacramento 90
Detroit 92
Atlanta 69
Phoenix 103
San Antonio 93
Milwaukee 111
Utah 102
Seattle 94
Vancouver 93
Miami 94
LA Clippers 88
Portland 96
LA Lakers 86
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Antoine Walker Official Site
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