Gordon Scores 37; Bulls Ram Bucks 110-85

CHICAGO (AP) Ben Gordon scored 37 points and set a career high with 9 assists to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 110-85 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night. <br/><br/>Gordon, who was 15-25 from

Monday, November 6th 2006, 10:25 pm

By: News On 6

CHICAGO (AP) Ben Gordon scored 37 points and set a career high with 9 assists to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 110-85 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday night.

Gordon, who was 15-25 from the field, was 2 points shy of his career high when he headed to the bench with 3:29 left and the Bulls ahead by 22 points. He had 22 points and all of his assists in the 1st half.

Andres Nocioni and Luol Deng each scored 17 points for Chicago, while P.J. Brown finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. He was 6-12 from the field, after going 1-10 the first three games.

And Ben Wallace grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked 5 shots.

Michael Redd led the Bucks with 30 points, while Charlie Villanueva scored 17 and grabbed 13 rebounds.

The Bulls looked more like the team that opened the season with a 42 point victory at defending champion Miami than the one that lost its next two games. After blowing a 6 point lead in the final 1:19 and losing by 1 to Sacramento in Friday's home opener, Chicago took control in the 1st half Monday and never relinquished it.

The Bulls were active on both ends. They shot 54.1 percent (46-85) and had 24 fastbreak points to Milwaukee's 8. The Bucks were 32-78 overall, but just 4-22 on 3 pointers.

Down 18 points at halftime, the Bucks threatened late in the 3rd, but the Bulls stopped them. No surprise, Gordon played a key role.

The Bucks were within 73-61 after Redd banked in a jumper with just under 2 minutes left in the quarter.

Gordon then hit a spinning layup and a free throw to complete the 3 point play. Then, he rebounded Redd's missed jumper and fired the ball upcourt to Thabo Sefolosha, who in one motion caught it and whipped a pass to Wallace for a layup. And an emphatic two handed dunk by Deng in the closing seconds made it 80-61.

After scoring 5 points against Sacramento, Gordon was 9-15 from the field in the 1st half, and his teammates weren't bad, either. The Bulls shot 26-44, 14-19 in the 2nd quarter, and took a 60-42 halftime lead.