Bulls Need Time, Pistons May Not Give It

The Chicago Bulls will need time to adjust under their new coach _ whoever it is. <br/><br/>The Detroit Pistons might be out of sight by then. <br/><br/>A coaching change didn't help the Bulls on Wednesday

Thursday, December 27th 2007, 7:21 am

By: News On 6

The Chicago Bulls will need time to adjust under their new coach _ whoever it is.

The Detroit Pistons might be out of sight by then.

A coaching change didn't help the Bulls on Wednesday night, as they fell even further behind the Central Division leaders after the Pistons rolled to their sixth straight victory, 101-83 at New Jersey.

With Pete Myers running the Bulls in San Antonio, Tony Parker scored 28 points, and the Spurs led by as many as 25 points in their 94-79 victory.

Chicago fired Scott Skiles on Monday and showed there's plenty more work to do, falling to 9-17 and 11 games back of Detroit.

``I've been here for four years with the same coach,'' said Luol Deng, who scored 12 points for the Bulls. ``It's going to be an adjustment.''

One that may come under someone else. Myers doesn't even know if he will remain the interim coach and said lead assistant coach Jim Boylan had stayed behind in Chicago.

``I don't know that yet, which is kind of good, because we always talk about taking one game at a time, taking one play at a time,'' Myers said before the game. ``That's basically what I'm doing now.''

In other games, it was: Philadelphia 96, Miami 85; Atlanta 107, Indiana 95; Orlando 110, New York 96; Washington 108, Charlotte 104; New Orleans 116, Memphis 98; Denver 125, Milwaukee 105; Utah 99, Dallas 90; Boston 89, Sacramento 69; and Golden State 105, Minnesota 101.

The Spurs, already without Manu Ginobili, lost key reserve Brent Barry to a strained left calf.

At New Jersey, Richard Hamilton scored 22 points and the Pistons shot 78 percent in the third quarter. Chauncey Billups scored eight of his 17 points and handed out four of his 10 assists in the quarter, when Detroit made 14 of 18 shots to turn a one-point halftime lead into a 14-point laugher.

The Pistons were 24-for-37 from the field in the second half. They have held their past seven opponents to fewer than 90 points.

``We got to keep rolling now,'' Rasheed Wallace said after the Pistons played for the first time in three days. ``We can't let up. We played pretty good tonight and I think some of us were anxious to play again because we had been playing good.''

Hornets 116, Grizzlies 98

At Memphis, Tenn., Chris Paul had 40 points and nine assists, and New Orleans used a third-quarter spurt to win its third straight. It marked the second-highest point total in Paul's career. Only his 43 points against the Grizzlies on Dec. 7 was better.

Pau Gasol, the Grizzlies' second-leading scorer, finished with eight points, ending a streak of 81 games in double figures. That was the third-highest in the league behind Carmelo Anthony and Ray Allen.

Nuggets 125, Bucks 105

At Denver, Marcus Camby had a triple-double and Carmelo Anthony posted his fourth straight double-double.

Anthony, who had four double-doubles last season and six so far this season, finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds in three quarters. Camby had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks for his third career triple-double.

Celtics 89, Kings 69

Paul Pierce scored 14 of his 16 points during a dominating second-quarter run that carried Boston to its first win in Sacramento in more than 11 years.

Ray Allen led the way with 17 points and Kevin Garnett added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Celtics, who had lost 11 straight at Arco Arena since Feb. 16, 1996. It was Boston's first road game against a Western Conference team.

Hawks 107, Pacers 95

At Atlanta, Joe Johnson had 26 points and 11 assists as the Hawks beat Indiana for their first five-game winning streak in eight years.

The Hawks are three games over .500 this late in the season for the first time since the 1998-99 season, the last time they made the playoffs. The Hawks' last five-game winning streak came early the following season, from Nov. 27-Dec. 8 in 1999.

Jazz 99, Mavericks 90

Carlos Boozer scored 21 points, including six of Utah's last seven, to lead the Jazz to their third win in the past 12 games.

Andrei Kirilenko and Deron Williams had 17 points apiece as the Jazz improved to 10-2 at home.

Dirk Nowitzki had 20 points for Dallas but made just 3-for-10 from 3-point range. Devin Harris and Josh Howard each had 17 points for the Mavericks, who had their five-game winning streak snapped.

Magic 110, Knicks 96

Hedo Turkoglu scored 26 points, Rashard Lewis added 25 and Orlando broke a four-game home losing streak.

Jamal Crawford led New York with 29 points and eight assists, but had little offensive help in the second half. The Knicks lost their third straight.

Wizards 108, Bobcats 104

At Charlotte, N.C., Caron Butler returned from two sore ankles to score 25 points, and Washington snapped a three-game losing streak.

Antawn Jamison added 26 points and 14 rebounds, Roger Mason scored a career-high 24 points and Brendan Haywood had 20 points and nine rebounds for the Wizards, who gave coach Eddie Jordan his 200th career win.

Gerald Wallace scored 32 points and Jason Richardson added 27 for the Bobcats, who lost their second straight game.

76ers 96, Heat 85

Andre Iguodala scored a season-high 28 points and Andre Miller had 12 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds.

The Sixers improved to 12-16 and defeated the Heat for the 13th time in the past 15 games in Philadelphia.

Dwyane Wade scored 20 of his 27 points in the second half and Ricky Davis added 21 for Miami, which dropped its second in a row on back-to-back nights.

Warriors 105, Timberwolves 101

Monta Ellis scored a career-high 35 points to go with six rebounds and four assists, and Golden State held on for its fifth straight home victory.

Baron Davis added 27 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and Stephen Jackson had 19 points, six assists and six rebounds in the fourth victory in five games for Golden State.

Al Jefferson had 20 points and 19 rebounds for the Timberwolves.