All cylinders were firing. Tyson Chandler was getting every rebound and Eddy Curry was pushing guys out of the way to dunk. Marcus Fizer was backing guys down and Jalen Rose was overseeing it all.
And the Bulls won, 101-94 over the New York Knicks as Chandler had a career-high 19 rebounds, Curry had 13 points in 12 minutes and Rose controlled the game’s pace with a game-high 28 points.
“Wow, they played,” Rose said of the Bulls youngsters. “They stepped up. Look at Tyson Chandler. He was all over every rebound. Eddy Curry came in and was a force down low. Marcus Fizer was a force scoring (14 points in 18 minutes), especially in the fourth quarter. When we get multiple efforts from a lot of guys we’re a tough team.”
The Bulls led by 20 with four minutes left, and were ahead by five with 30.9 seconds remaining because the Knicks hit six three pointers before remembering who they were.
Curry pulled off a rare highlight show in a seven-minute stretch when he scored 10 points, hit all four of his free throws and grabbed three rebounds.
“If you really look up in the standings, we’re right there,” Rose said. “If we can find a way to win some road games, we can put pressure on people. This was a team this time last year that had less than 10 wins.”
