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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
PHOENIX (AP) – A first-half benching of the starters and a short
but to-the-point halftime speech did the trick for the Phoenix
Suns.
They came out with a third-quarter outburst that finally buried
Chicago 97-80 Tuesday night, the Bulls' 16th loss in a row.
All five starters were yanked by coach Scott Skiles with 5:41 to
play. Three of them -- Jason Kidd,
Clifford Robinson and Mario Elie --
sat out the rest of the half.
Then Kidd and Robinson came back in the third quarter to ignite
the surge that put the Bulls away.
"I had seen enough," Skiles said. "We were standing around,
not defending, not taking care of the ball. ... I've seen too much
of that this year, and that was it for me."
Chicago was without coach Tim Floyd, suspended for the game and
fined $10,000 for intentionally making contact with referee Greg
Willard in the Bulls' 102-82 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers
Monday night.
The Bulls were on the final stop of a five-game road trip and
didn't have leading scorer Elton Brand, out with a hyper-extended
right elbow.
Kidd scored all eight of his points and had eight of his 11
assists in the third quarter, when Phoenix had runs of 16-0 and
11-0.
Robinson, in his first game since his arrest early Monday on
suspicion of driving under the influence and marijuana possession,
scored 12 of his 18 points in the third. Robinson is the third Sun
to be arrested in the last two months, but he said he never thought
about sitting out the game.
"I'm not one to try to run from anything. If I have to face it,
I have to face it," Robinson said. "Tonight was something I was
going to have to face eventually. Why sit out now if I'm not
suspended?"
Shawn Marion had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Suns. Rodney
Rogers scored 15 and Tony Delk 11. Tom Gugliotta had 11 points and
10 rebounds.
Skiles said he won't hesitate to take similar action in the
future as he tries to get his team to shake off its habitual
inconsistency
"I'm going to do whatever I think is necessary to bring some
discipline into the way we play," Skiles said. "When the ball
goes up, our starters are going to play hard, or they're not going
to play."
At the half, Skiles said his message was "short and sweet."
"He wanted guys to come out with the effort," Kidd said. "He
thought the first unit wasn't coming with the effort. Coming out in
the third quarter, I think guys responded."
Ron Artest scored 18 for Chicago but fouled out with 10:24
remaining. Ron Mercer made his first six shots and scored 12 in the
first quarter, but was 0-for-8 after that and finished with 13
points.
Assistant coach Bill Barry, filling in for Floyd, liked his
team's effort, but said the execution fell apart in the third
quarter.
"I was real proud," Barry said. "We didn't have any slippage.
They played hard and they played together, until we got kind of
discombobulated in the third quarter."
But the losses are wearing on this team.
"It's not one or two losses," Mercer said. "It's I don't know
how many. I don't know the count of consecutive losses."
Chicago led by 13 early and was in a 50-50 tie after Bryce
Drew's 3-pointer with 11:01 to play in the third quarter.
But the Suns scored the next 16 -- six by Kidd and seven by
Robinson -- to go up 66-50 with 5:10 left in the quarter. An 11-0
run made it 78-57 with 43 seconds left in the third.
Game notes
Chicago assistant coach Phil Johnson was fined $2,500 for
confronting Willard during the Clippers incident. ... Robinson was
in the starting lineup, and his reception was not noticeably
different than any other night. ... Rookie center Jake Tsakalidis,
who has moved into the Suns starting lineup, was married to
Veronica Radchick on Monday on the balcony of team owner Jerry
Colangelo's office. ... After averaging 16.7 points in the third
quarter in its previous six games, the Suns scored 30 against the
Bulls. ... Gugliotta has 21 points and 21 rebounds in his last two
games.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Chicago Clubhouse
Phoenix Clubhouse
Police say Robinson admitted to smoking pot, drinking beer
Suns' Robinson faces DUI, drug paraphernalia charges
RECAPS
Orlando 109
Charlotte 83
Detroit 94
Denver 83
New Jersey 90
Atlanta 84
Miami 102
Indiana 89
Milwaukee 112
Sacramento 109
Phoenix 97
Chicago 80
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