Season Game #13
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Box Scores
Sacramento Kings 79 - Chicago Bulls 111
Ben Wallace rejecting Kevin Martin’s layup attempt. Wallace was
a monster on the defensive end as he finished with 6 blocks
and 6 steals.
Bulls Extend Kings’ Losing Streak in 32-Point Rout in Chicago
November 23
CHICAGO, Nov. 23 (AP)-- The Sacramento Kings' losing streak continued, and the Chicago Bulls made it look easy.
The Bulls cruised to their biggest victory for this season, beating Sacramento 111-79 on Thursday night to send the Kings to their worst loss this season and extended the Kings’ losing skid to three.
"Of course I am embarrassed. We lost by 32 points," Kings forward Ron Artest said. "I'm angry. I'm always angry when I lose, but that was just flat-out embarrassing. To lose that bad was just ridiculous."
It is the sixth-straight win by the Bulls. Chicago have won eight of their last ten games and has been playing great basketball.
After winning their first game of their East coast road trip in Atlanta, it has been a downward spiral for the Kings. Losing to the Wizards, Pacers and now the Bulls. And if things don’t turn around, the Sacramento Kings management is prepared to make some moves and no one is safe, including Coach Reggie Theus.
"We take two steps forward and one giant step back," Theus said. "I don't know where this game came from. I thought we played extremely selfish tonight ... Definitely didn't see this type of game coming after the last two games we played. This was just not a good night."
Luol Deng and company had a decent rest as they took over
the game in the second half.
And, unlike other teams, the Celtics didn't even try to run up the score.
Kirk Hinrich played just 18 minutes, scoring 22 points before leaving the game midway through the third quarter with Chicago ahead 70-53. No starter for the Bulls played more than 30 minutes, Luol Deng played for 29 minutes followed by Ben Wallace’s 27 minutes.
"I can't even remember having that much rest," Ben Wallace said. "It's good, because our young guys will have the time to showcase their skills."
Chris Duhon dribbled out the remaining 20 seconds of the game, rather than go for a much larger margin.
"I'm never great in math," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "So I couldn't figure out if we were up by 30. I wasn't even paying a lot of attention to it. But I knew we were playing well and, obviously, I looked."
Chris Webber finished with 16 points and Mike Bibby had 13 -- the only Sacramento players in double figures.
Deng scored 32, Hinrich had 22 and Gordon finished with 13. Ben Wallace was a dominating force finishing the game with 18 rebounds, 6 steals and 6 blocks for the Bulls, who were coming off a win against Memphis. Chicago improved to 7-2 at home, and the Kings dropped to 1-4 on the road.
The Kings were last within 10 points with 5:11 left in the third period. They didn't come within 20 after the Bulls took a 82-61 lead with 5:27 left in the fourth. Chicago made it 30 with about 3 minutes left in the game.
"It wasn't about the score, it was about us going out there and getting better," Deng said. "At one point, I didn't even know we were up 20 plus points."
Notes: Kings leading scorer Kevin Martin scored 9 points which is a season-low. ... Bulls F Tyrus Thomas’ 8 points all came from dunks. ... Chicago had 21 steals with 6 coming from Ben Wallace. ... This is the second game of a back-to-back for the Kings and they will play the Bucks for the last game of their road trip.
Photo Gallery
NBA Scoreboard
SEA 85 @ BOS 106 Kevin Garnett 22 pts, 18 reb, 6 ast
DAL 109 @ CHA 108 Josh Howard 26 pts, 7 reb, 5 blk
SA 122 @ ATL 82 Manu Ginobili 37 pts, 9 ast
GS 113 @ ORL 94 Al Harrington 23 pts, 8 reb, 12 ast
LAC 88 @ NJ 80 Elton Brand 22 pts, 11 reb, 4 blk
LAL 111 @ TOR 107 Derek Fisher 25 pts, 6 ast, 3 stl
MIN 89 @ MIA 98 Shaquille O’Neal 27 pts, 17 reb, 3 blk
UTA 95 @ NY 92 Carlos Boozer 28 pts, 7 reb, 4 stl
PHX 77 @ WSH 80 Antawn Jamison 31 pts, 10 reb
NBA Rumors: Thursday, Nov. 23
Tim Duncan did not play in San Antonio’s game against Atlanta tonight because of a strained
achilles tendon but sources are saying that Duncan is no 100 and will return to action on the
Spurs’ next game.
The Boston Celtics are reported to be putting a power forward on the trade block. The news is
still scarce and it is unknown as to who the player is but we can definitely say that it isn’t the newly
acquired Kevin Garnett.
Another rumor circulating concerns the Toronto Raptors. They are rumored to be moving a
small forward out of their line-up.
We shall update you on things as it further develops.