The words “big game” and “New Jersey Nets” rarely have been used in the same sentence, especially as far as the Bulls are concerned.
Boy, have times changed.
Depending on how things go for the defending NBA champions for the rest of the month, they no doubt will point to Saturday’s 100-92 victory over the new and improved Nets at Continental Airlines Arena as one of the more important games of the season.
The reasoning is obvious. The Bulls (16-9) won their fourth straight game for only the second time this season, and they had a strong finish on the road against a pretty good home team in the Nets (13-11 overall, 8-3 at home).
As Michael Jordan, who finished with a game-high 24 points, pointed out, successive victories over the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers earlier last week wouldn’t have amounted to much had the Bulls dropped a game in New Jersey.
The Bulls, who are now 5-8 away from the United Center, also snapped a two-game losing streak on the road.
“The object is to not come here and let New Jersey win,” Jordan said. “We hadn’t won on the road in a while and, especially after big victories in Chicago, we felt it imperative to come in here and scrap out a victory.”
Scrapping out a victory is an apt description. The Bulls turned the ball over 17 times through the first three quarters–13 times in the first half.
But in their best fourth quarter on the road this season, they committed just one turnover.
They trailed New Jersey 71-65 going into the final quarter but limited the Nets to one field goal for more than 5 minutes when the fourth quarter got under way.
Before you knew it, the Bulls were up 78-73 after a follow-up by Toni Kukoc (14 points) with 5 minutes 54 seconds left.
The Bulls, who got a season-high 24 rebounds from Dennis Rodman, played aggressively from that point on to hold off the Nets, who were led by rookie Keith Van Horn’s 20 points.
“I have to give (the Bulls) credit,” New Jersey coach John Calipari said. “They shot the ball well. And down the stretch, I thought we had a couple of guys hanging their heads.”
