|
 Winning the game was a nice bonus, too.
Holiday made a three-point play with 2.6 seconds left and the New
Orleans Pelicans outlasted the Chicago Bulls 131-128 on Monday
night.
"I really just wanted the game to be over, to be honest," he said.
"I felt we had some calls that didn't go our way, but in the third
overtime, we had a chance to finally close it out."
That's something that neither team could do before that point.
The Pelicans called a timeout with 4.5 seconds, but coach Monty
Williams wasn't about to take credit for the mad scramble that left
Holiday with a clear path to the basket.
"That's just something stupid," Williams said. "Jrue just makes the
play. I'm not that bright. Sometimes I try to outthink myself. He
just made a great play."
"I'd love to tell you I'm that bright, but I'm not. We draw it up
for a certain thing to happen, and he just made a good play. All the
credit goes to him," he said.
Holiday had 19 points and 12 assists. The point guard made an
18-foot shot with 3.9 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the
score at 103 and force overtime.
Ryan Anderson had a career-high 36 points on 12-of-20 shooting,
including 7 for 11 on 3-pointers for the Pelicans. Eric Gordon added
23 points.
Luol Deng led the Bulls with 37 points and also had eight rebounds
and seven assists. Reserve Taj Gibson had 26 points and 14 rebounds.
Mike Dunleavy added 23 points and Joakim Noah had a double-double
with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
It was the Bulls' first game at home following a 1-5 road trip while
the circus took over the United Center for two weeks. The Bulls lost
for the first time at home after winning five in a row and now have
dropped six of seven.
They've won only once since point guard Derrick Rose was lost for
the season with a tear in the meniscus in his right knee.
"Right now a lot of things aren't going our way," Deng said. "We
have to stick with it and keep fighting and keep working hard. It's
not going to turn around by itself. We have to make it happen. We're
losing a lot of close games right now. It's something we have to get
better with. Individually, I have to get better at making plays at
the end of the game.
[to top of second column] |
"This was a tough one, coming back from a trip.
I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't tired out there. I was
tired. A lot of guys were. Our team and their team, they had a
back-to-back. We made a lot of fatigue and mental mistakes at
the end."
In the first overtime, the teams traded one-point leads for
nearly three minutes before Deng's drive gave the Bulls a
109-106 advantage with 2:08 left. The Bulls then got consecutive
defensive stops and had two chances to stretch the lead, but
couldn't convert. Gordon then hit a 3-pointer with 10.2 seconds
to go, tying it at 109 and forcing a second OT.
In double-OT, the Bulls rallied from a 118-113 deficit, taking
advantage of New Orleans mistakes and tying it at 122 on Deng's
drive with 4.7 seconds to go.
The Bulls jumped on top in the third overtime, but the Pelicans
rallied and took a 127-126 edge on Anderson's 3-pointer with
1:08 to go. Noah's basket evened it at 128, setting up Holiday.
"We're beat," Williams said. "When you put your heart and soul
into a game like that and guys come through, it just takes a lot
out of you. I'm so proud of the way we won, coming off a
back-to-back against one of the best defenses in the NBA, to be
able to produce."
NOTES: For the second straight season, Pelicans center Anthony
Davis — the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft — missed the team's
only visit to his hometown. The 6-foot-10 big man broke his left
hand Sunday in New York and is out in definitely. Last year,
Davis was held out with a mild concussion. "One of the first
things he said to me when I got back in the locker room was,
'Two years in a row," Williams said. "Took me a minute to
realize what he was talking about. He just really wanted to play
here. I feel bad for him." ... . Rose, who had surgery a week
ago, didn't attend the Bulls' first home game since the injury.
"I've been talking to him," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.
"He's doing fine."
[Associated
Press; JOHN JACKSON]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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