TORONTO—The way they’re struggling against losing teams right now, the Bulls are probably looking forward to Sunday’s matchup with the Miami Heat.Amir Johnson had 24 points and nine rebounds, Rudy Gay scored 23 points and the Toronto Raptors earned their second straight win over Bulls, beating them 97-88 on Friday night. The Playoff-bound Bulls have lost four of its past five meetings with lottery-bound opponents, also losing at Detroit and Washington in the past 11 days.

“You’ve got to be ready for everybody,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Everyone is capable of beating you.Sometimes you have travel involved or you’re down players but you’ve still got to be ready,” he added. “You’ve still got to get it done. It’s that simple.”

While they’ve come up short against the NBA’s lesser lights in recent meetings, the Bulls have fared better against fellow playoff contenders. They halted Miami’s 27-game win streak last month, won at Brooklyn last week and snapped New York’s 13-game winning streak with an overtime triumph on Thursday.

“That’s the nature of the league,” Thibodeau said. “What happened yesterday has little bearing on today.”

Boozer said he had no explanation for Chicago’s poor run of results against lower-tier opponents.

“You have to forget it and move on to the next one, you can’t dwell on it,” he said.

Kyle Lowry had 13 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, and DeMar DeRozan scored 19 points for the Raptors, who were coming off a 101-98 win in the United Center on Tuesday night.

“Defensively we made it tough on them,” Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. “We made them earn every inch of the court.”

Quincy Acy had 10 points and nine rebounds as Toronto won for the fourth time in five games.Carlos Boozer fouled out with 19 points and 12 rebounds in 31 minutes, his 11th double-double in the past 13 games.Nate Robinson scored 17 points, Nazr Mohammed had 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Luol Deng added 10 points as the Bulls lost for the third time in four games and lost any hope of earning home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“They made shots, we didn’t,” Mohammed said. “We didn’t get the stops when we needed them and we didn’t execute the way we normally do.”

Bulls guard Richard Hamilton was ejected with 5:33 left in the third after being called for a flagrant foul on DeRozan. Hamilton was tossed after intentionally colliding with DeRozan and attempting to punch him in the face. He was called for a flagrant 2, which carries an automatic ejection.

“I hate to see him get thrown out of a game but there was a lot of grabbing and holding,” Thibodeau said. “We’ve got to handle that better.”

Casey said he had no problems with his players adopting an antagonistic style.

“We want to make guys uncomfortable and play with that kind of edge,” Casey said. “We want to frustrate players instead of being frustrated.”

Deng made his second straight start for the Bulls after missing two games with a sore right hip, but they were without center Joakim Noah (right foot) for the 11th time in 12 games, while forward Taj Gibson (left knee) missed his sixth straight game.Aaron Gray started for the Raptors in place of rookie center Jonas Valanciunas, who left Tuesday’s win at the United Center after colliding with Gay and injuring his neck.Toronto was also without rookie guard Terrence Ross (left ankle) and swingman Landry Fields (illness).Johnson made his career-high third 3-pointer of the season with 5:55 left, putting Toronto up 85-76, but a 3 by Marco Belinelli cut it to 90-84 with 2:55 left.Johnson responded with a dunk and Gay hit a 3, giving the Raptors a 95-84 lead with 2:18 remaining.

“We just didn’t have what it took to make a push in the fourth quarter to try and steal the game,” Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich said. “The game was still in reach, we just could never string stops together or make buckets to make it a close game.”

Boozer made his first six field goals of the game and scored 13 in the first. Toronto trailed 19-8 with 5:12 left in the quarter but closed the period on a 12-3 run, cutting the gap to 22-20.Acy put the Raptors in front on an alley-oop dunk with 1:09 left in the second, and the Raptors led 47-43 at the half.Gay scored eight in the third and Toronto led 67-52 with 4:19 left but Robinson and Jimmy Butler each scored five as the Bulls cut it to 73-65 heading into the fourth.Butler came in having scored in double figures in nine of his previous 10 games but struggled in this one, making just two of six shots and scoring seven points.

NOTES—Toronto went 27 for 33 from the free throw line while the Bulls finished 11 for 14. … The Bulls dropped to 12-2 on Fridays. .

The United Center, where winning streaks come to die! Nate Robinson scored a season-high 35 points and the Bulls stopped another lengthy winning streak, rallying to beat New York 118-111 in overtime Thursday and end the Knicks’ 13-game run.Robinson came up big down the stretch, scoring eight points in the extra period.Jimmy Butler added 22 points, Luol Deng scored 16, and the Bulls busted a long streak for the second time in about a two-week span, ending the Miami Heat’s 27-game run — the second-longest in NBA history — on March 27. They put the Knicks’ longest streak in nearly two decades to rest with a huge surge in the second half, offsetting Carmelo Anthony’s 36 points.Robinson started overtime with a three-point play to give his team a 108-105 lead, and after Anthony scored, the Bulls started to pull away.Deng nailed a 3-pointer, and Robinson hit a free throw after J.R. Smith got called for a technical foul with 2:09 remaining for arguing a non-call against Deng on a missed drive. The Bulls guard then drove for a layup to make it 114-107, and they hung on from there.The Bulls trailed by as much as 17 and was down 79-64 in the third quarter before going on a big run to get back into it.The Bulls were even up by nine — 99-90 — after a 3 by Robinson and layup by Butler with 5:42 remaining, but they did not get another basket in regulation.The Knicks finally tied it at 105 with 14.5 seconds left when a driving Anthony got fouled by Butler and hit both free throws.Deng then missed an off-balance fadeaway bank shot with 1.5 seconds left in regulation. New York’s Raymond Felton grabbed the rebound, and after a 20-second timeout, Anthony’s long jumper hit the rim and it went into overtime.That ended the Knicks’ longest win streak since a 15-game run from March 1 to April 2, 1994, and left them two games ahead of Indiana for the second seed in the Eastern Conference with four games remaining. New York plays the Pacers on Sunday.Anthony, trying to become the first Knicks player since Bernard King in 1984-85 to win a scoring title, was off target in this one. He hit just 13 of 34 shots after averaging 40.6 points in the previous five games.J.R. Smith scored 28 points and Raymond Felton added 19, but the Bulls hung on down the stretch in OT to complete the four-game sweep.The victory left the fifth-place Bulls a half-game ahead of Atlanta in the East, and they can thank Robinson for that. He beat his previous season high by a point.Deng finished with 16 points after sitting out the previous two games with a hip injury.

NOTES—Knicks coach Mike Woodson had little to say about a report that the Knicks were close to adding free agent F James Singleton. “I can’t really discuss that,” Woodson said. “As we speak right now, there’s really nothing going on with that. The name is dangling, but that’s kind of in-house matters right now. I can’t really discuss that yet.” … Coach Tom Thibodeau again said there’s no “drop-dead date” for Derrick Rose to return, adding “whenever he’s ready, he’s ready.” Rose’s recovery from a torn anterior cruciate ligament has been the biggest story surrounding the Bulls. He was injured in last year’s playoff opener against Philadelphia.

ST. PAUL—Patrick Sharp rejoined the Blackhawks machine as if he was never gone. Marian Hossa provided the welcome-back gift.Hossa’s unassisted goal late in the second period lifted the NHL-leading Blackhawks to their fifth win in six games, 1-0 over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.Ray Emery started for the Blackhawks for the third straight game and made 20 saves for his second shutout in that stretch and third of the season. He helped hand the Wild their fifth loss in seven games.

“We feel pretty good about our team,” Hossa said. “Right now, we’ve got a fifth line out there with some great players, and they don’t get in the lineup. I think we’re pretty strong up front. Our defense played great, and Ray’s played unreal the last three games.”

Hossa looked like a Bears defensive back jumping in front of a wide receiver’s route when he darted in front of Clayton Stoner’s seemingly harmless breakout pass toward Mikko Koivu in the Wild zone. Hossa intercepted the bouncing pass in front of the blue line, skated up the middle and snapped a shot past goalie Niklas Backstrom’s stick with 4:46 left before the second intermission.  “Sometimes we try to use our instincts,” Hossa said, adding: “I was at the spot, the timing was right and the puck hit me basically on the tape. Even though he put a really hard pass across, I had lots to do to catch that. I tried to release it so quick.”

That was Hossa’s first goal since March 16 at Dallas. He missed six games in that scoreless stretch because of an upper body injury, but Hossa is still second on the team with 14 goals.

“I pride myself on trying to play mistake free, and that was a costly one,” Stoner said. “I feel bad for letting the team down.”

The Blackhawks enjoyed an even bigger boost when Sharp returned from a 14-game absence due to a shoulder injury. The Cubs went 4-5 over those first nine games without Sharp before getting back on track, but the league’s top-scoring team is equipped with enough exceptional skill on its forward lines that it didn’t miss much of a beat.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good thing going here right now,” Sharp said. “I was just happy to get back in the swing of things with the team. It’s a great team to be a part of. Awesome guys off the ice. They make you feel welcome right away. So it was great to be out there. I think we’re a good team, with or without me.”

The first team in the NHL this season to clinch a spot in the playoffs, the Blackhawks outshot the Wild 31-20 to move one step closer to securing the top seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They are five points ahead of second-place Anaheim and have a game in hand over the Ducks. The Blackhawks (30-5-4) are 16-2-2 on the road, by far the best mark in the league.Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville gave Emery the start again over Corey Crawford. He said Crawford is 100 percent healthy. The way his team has been playing, though, picking the wrong goalie would be hard to do.

“I think there’s a lot of confidence, and we’re excited for whoever is in net,” said star Patrick Kane. “I think right now we’re pretty confident in our team. Just try to keep getting better.”

The Wild (22-15-2) put themselves in prime position for a spot in the postseason for the first time in five years by going a franchise-best 11-4 in March, but they are far from safe with just a five-point edge over ninth-place Dallas and Columbus. Six of the Wild’s final nine games are against teams currently below the playoff cut.

“We’ve still got some pretty good players here,” Wild star Zach Parise said. “We should be able to get some sustained pressure. We did the other night in Columbus. But that’s a team that plays really well defensively. I think they’ve given up the least amount of shots. It’s tough to get anything consistently going.”

They had their chances, particularly when Cal Clutterbuck got his rebound attempt behind Emery but not enough to nudge it past the goal line. Clutterbuck’s second swing missed, and Emery gained control.The Wild’s biggest blow came before the game when they learned right wing Dany Heatley, third on the team with 11 goals, will miss the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs following surgery on his left shoulder.

“You’ve got to get through it. Good teams can step up,” right wing Devin Setoguchi said.

NOTES—Wild C Zenon Konopka’s clearing pass landed in an unusual place, on Quenneville’s head. The puck bounced off the glass behind the bench before hitting Quenneville, who laughed as he rubbed his gray hair after the harmless blow…..The Blackhawks are 6-0-3 against the Wild in the last nine meetings…..Koivu hasn’t scored in seven games and hasn’t recorded a point in five games….The Wild were also without C Matt Cullen (lower body) for the fourth straight game…..The Blackhawks scratched C Dave Bolland (lower body) for the third straight game. Quenneville wasn’t ready to commit to his return on Friday against Detroit.

There wasn’t much Rudy Gay could do except shrug off the collision and hope his teammate wasn’t seriously injured.The fact that Jonas Valanciunas left the court on a gurney with a neck injury sure did take the shine off a wild win, though.DeMar DeRozan scored 20 points, and the Toronto Raptors beat the Bulls 101-98 on Tuesday night.Gay added 19 but collided with Valanciunas during a scramble in the closing seconds, resulting in a neck injury for the Raptors’ center and an overnight stay for observation at Rush University Medical Center. The injury was part of a wild finish to a wild game in which Toronto allowed a 15-point lead to dwindle to four at halftime. The Raptors regrouped in the third quarter, getting it up to 16, but had to hang on after the Bulls cut it to two near the end of the game.Nate Robinson nailed a 3-pointer with just under a minute left and Carlos Boozer hit two foul shots with 16.8 seconds remaining to pull the Bulls within 99-97.DeRozan then made two free throws to get the lead up to four, but the Bulls weren’t finished. Robinson hit the first of two free throws with 10.6 seconds left, and after a jump ball following the miss, there was a scramble for the loose ball.From the floor, Boozer threw it to Robinson. The ball went through the guard’s hands and started to go into the back court. Robinson saved it to avoid the violation then missed a heave at the buzzer.”I took my eyes off the ball,” Robinson said. “I saw Kirk [Hinrich] to my left wide open. When Booz threw me the ball he threw it kind of fast and I was in pass motion to throw it to Kirk and I took my eyes off of it.”

Right after the tip on the jump ball, Valanciunas’ head hit Gay’s shoulder. He fell backward, immediately grabbing the back of his neck, and he was tended to for several minutes while sitting up on the sideline. He had his neck placed in a brace before being taken away on a gurney.The Raptors said test results at the hospital were pending late Tuesday night.

“Nobody wants to see their player get carted off, but knowing him, he’s a tough guy and he’ll push through it,” Gay said.

For the fifth-place Bulls, the loss left them just a half-game ahead of Atlanta in the Eastern Conference with five to play. It also damaged their chances of catching Brooklyn, a team they trail by three, for the fourth seed and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Nets beat Philadelphia on Tuesday.Rip Hamilton returned to the Bulls after missing more than a month with a back injury, but with Joakim Noah (right foot), Luol Deng (hip), Taj Gibson (sprained left knee) and Derrick Rose (left knee) sidelined, the Bulls struggled on both ends and dropped their second straight game.Gay shook off a poor performance after matching a season low with four points in Saturday’s loss to Milwaukee.DeRozan shot 8 of 13. Terrence Ross came off the bench to score 13. Kyle Lowry added 13 points and 10 assists, and the Raptors shot over 51 percent.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with a career-high 28 points. Robinson scored 22, and Boozer added 19 points and 11 rebounds.Hamilton was a surprise addition to the rotation after coach Tom Thibodeau said at the shootaround that he would not play. Instead, he got in 15 minutes and finished with four points after missing the previous 19 games, but the Bulls again stumbled badly after falling to Detroit on Sunday.

“We dug ourselves a huge hole at the beginning of the game. It’s hard to claw out of those holes,” Butler said.

The Raptors broke it open midway through the third, scoring 12 straight to turn a four-point lead into a 76-60 advantage.Gay had seven points during that run, capping it with a 3-pointer with 3:26 left in the quarter, but things got interesting at the end.

“This was a great game here and something that we can build on,” Lowry said.

NOTES—Thibodeau dismissed the idea that there’s a rift between the Bulls and Rose’s camp, saying chairman Jerry Reinsdorf was adamant right from the start that the star guard would not rush back. “We’ve made it clear that we don’t want him out there unless he’s comfortable,” Thibodeau said. “So I think he understands that. He’s done his part. We have to do what’s right. I think we are.”…..Butler’s previous career-high was 20 points…..The Bulls had won five straight against Toronto…..Hamilton on how he felt: “I felt good. Tonight was actually the first time I really had contact. That was the thing I was worried about.”

ATLANTA—Rick Pitino capped the greatest week of his life with the prize he wanted most of all.Luke Hancock produced another huge game off the bench, scoring 22 points, and Pitino became the first coach to win national titles at two schools when relentless Louisville rallied from another 12-point deficit to beat Michigan 82-76 in the NCAA championship game Monday night. This title came on the same day Pitino was announced as a member of the latest Hall of Fame class, a couple of days after his horse won a big race on the way to the Kentucky Derby, and a few more days after his son got the head coaching job at Minnesota.This was the best feeling of all. The Cardinals (35-5) lived up to their billing as the top overall seed in the tournament, though they sure had to work for it.Louisville trailed Wichita State by a dozen in the second half of the national semifinals, before rallying for a 72-68 victory. This time, they fell behind by 12 in the first half, though a stunning spurt at the end of the period wiped out the entire deficit.For that, they can thank Hancock, named the most outstanding player. He came off the bench to hit four straight 3-pointers after Michigan got a boost from an even more unlikely player, freshman Spike Albrecht. He, too, made four straight from beyond the arc, blowing by his career high before the break with 17 points. Coming in, Albrecht was averaging 1.8 points a game and had not scored more than seven all season.While Albrecht didn’t do much in the second half, Hancock finished what he started for Louisville. He buried another 3 from the corner with 3:20 remaining to give the Cardinals their biggest lead, 76-66. Michigan wouldn’t go away, but Hancock wrapped it up by making two free throws with 29 seconds left.While Pitino shrugged off any attempt to make this about him, there was no doubt the Cardinals wanted to win a national title for someone else – injured guard Kevin Ware.Watching again from his seat at the end of the Louisville bench, his injured right led propped up on a chair, Ware smiled and slapped hands with his teammates as they celebrated in the closing seconds, the victory coming just 30 miles from where he played his high school ball.Any pain he was feeling from that gruesome injury in the regional final, when he landed awkwardly, snapped his leg and was left writhing on the floor with the bone sticking through the skin, was long gone as he hobbled gingerly onto the court with the aid of crutches, backing in a sea of confetti and streamers.Peyton Siva added 18 points for the Cardinals, who closed the season on a 16-game winning streak, and Chane Behanan chipped in with 15 points and 12 rebounds as Louisville slowly but surely closed out the Wolverines (31-8).Michigan was in the title game for the first time since the Fab Five lost the second of two straight championship games in 1993. Players from that team, including Chris Webber, cheered on the latest group of young stars.But, like the Fab Five, national player of the year Trey Burke and a squad with three freshman starters came up short in the last game of the season.The first half might’ve been the most entertaining 20 minutes of the entire tournament.Burke started out on fire for Michigan, hitting his first three shots and scoring seven points to match his output from the semifinal victory over Syracuse, when he made only 1-of-8 shots.Then, when Burke sidelined most of the first half with two fouls, Albrecht took control. The kid whose nickname comes from his first pair of baseball spikes showed he’s a pretty good hoops player, too, knocking down one 3-pointer after another to send the Wolverines to a double-digit lead.When Albrecht blew by Tim Henderson with a brilliant hesitation move, Michigan led 33-21 and Louisville was forced to call timeout. The freshman was mobbed on the Michigan bench, like the Wolverines had already won the national title, with one teammate waving a towel in tribute.Not so fast. Not against Louisville.The Cardinals just kept coming back.After already pulling off a stunning comeback in the Big East championship game and another against Wichita State, they surged back behind their own ace off the bench.Hancock made four straight 3-pointers to match Albrecht. Then, trapping the youngster and knocking the ball away, he set up a fast break that ended with Siva flipping up a lob that Montrezl Harrell slammed through for a dunk, capping a stunning 16-3 run in less than 4 minutes that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the night, 37-36.Glenn Robinson III made two free throws with two seconds left to give Michigan a 38-37 lead at halftime.But everyone knew this game was just getting started.And when it was done, Pitino, Ware and the Cardinals were celebrating in the middle of the mammoth Georgia Dome.

Brandon Saad and Jonathan Toews scored 55 seconds apart midway through the third period, and the Blackhawks rallied to beat the Nashville Predators 5-3 on Sunday night to become the first team to clinch a NHL playoff spot this season.The Blackhawks (29-5-4) had fallen behind 3-2 early in the third on a goal by David Legwand, but Saad and Toews connected against Pekka Rinne to put the Blackhawks back ahead.The Blackhawks defeated the Predators for the second time in two days and improved to 13-0-1 against Central Division teams. Andrew Shaw and Bryan Bickell also scored for the Hawks, and Patrick Kane added an empty-net goal.Shea Weber and Nick Spaling each had a goal and an assist for the Predators (15-17-8), who are 13th in the Western Conference with 38 points, five behind eighth-place Detroit at the postseason cutoff.Ray Emery stopped 19 shots, following a 20-save, 1-0 win at Nashville on Saturday. The Blackhawks improved to 4-0 against the Predators this season.Rinne, who leads the NHL in games and minutes played, made 35 saves as he appeared in his 29th straight contest.Both teams skated without key forwards.Nashville left wing Gabriel Bourque, who is tied with Legwand for the team lead with 11 goals, missed his fourth game because of an upper body injury. Mike Fisher, third on the Predators with 19 points, sat out after aggravating a hand injury that caused him to miss three games last week.Patrick Sharp, who led the Blackhawks with 33 goals last season, missed his 14th game with a shoulder injury. Dave Bolland sat out his second because of a lower body injury, believed to have been caused when a shot by Weber struck him last Monday.The Blackhawks killed off the only penalty against them on Sunday and have snuffed 17 straight chances. The Hawks haven’t allowed a power-play goal in 10 games, dating to March 18. The Blackhawks entered the game as the third-least penalized team in the NHL, training the New York Islanders and Rangers.Shaw opened the scoring 6:34 in on a tip-in.Michael Frolik jumped on a rebound that Rinne had deflected to the left boards, then turned and fired on goal in one motion. Shaw, who had slipped behind defenseman Roman Josi and parked in front, deflected the puck over Rinne’s shoulder.The Blackhawks dominated the first period, outshooting the Predators 17-7. But a turnover by defenseman Johnny Oduya in the slot set off a scramble that led to Spaling’s goal that made it 1-1 with 2:44 left.After Oduya couldn’t handle a pass from Toews, Sergei Kostitsyn grabbed the loose puck and shot from a sharp angle to the right of the net. Emery stopped that attempt, but Spaling fired in the rebound before Emery could recover.Bickell, who scored the Hawks only goal on Saturday, put the Blackhawks back in front 2-1 at 2:09 of the second.Weber tied it at 2 just over three minutes later, when he fired from the top of the right circle directly from a faceoff win by Spaling. Weber’s high screened shot beat Emery on the stick side.Legwand scored on a rebound to put Nashville ahead 3-2 at 6:54 of the third to cap a scrum around the Hawk net.Emery stopped Weber’s shot from right wing and Matt Halischuk stuff-in attempt from the left side, but Legwand popped in a loose puck from the crease.Saad tied it at 3 at 9:37 from 10 feet. After fanning on a first shot attempt, defenseman Duncan Keith swept in and fired a shot that Rinne blocked. Saad converted the rebound. Toews put the Hawks ahead 4-3 at 10:32. Kane outraced two Predators to a loose puck on the back boards, then centered to Toews, who connected on a low shot from the right circle.Kane’s goal with 32 seconds left completed the scoring.

AUBURN HILLS—Brandon Knight scored 20 points Sunday night to help the Detroit Pistons snap an 18-game losing streak against the Bulls with a 99-85 victory Sunday night.Jonas Jerebko added 17 points and a season-high nine rebounds for the Pistons, who ended an eight-game home skid.The Bulls led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter but Detroit gradually caught up and took the lead in the second after starting the period on a 12-4 run.Carlos Boozer had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the postseason-bound Bulls, who are fighting to secure the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Nate Robinson added 18 points and Jimmy Butler scored 14 as the Bulls two-game winning streak ended.The Pistons took a 50-46 lead to intermission and pushed it to as many as 10 in the third quarter. Knight scored a dozen points in the period. Detroit scored the first four points of the fourth and never let the Bulls get closer than 10 points the rest of the night.Rodney Stuckey had 14 points and rookie Andre Drummond added 10 rebounds for Detroit. Luol Deng, the Bulls’ leading scorer and the NBA’s leader in minutes per game, missed the game with a sore hip. Coach Tom Thibodeau said the decision to bench him was “precautionary.” Joakim Noah, who missed eight games with an injured right foot, and Marco Belinelli, who was out seven with an abdominal strain, each returned Sunday night.The Bulls were aiming to match the franchise record for consecutive victories over an opponent, which also was against the Pistons. Michael Jordan’s 1990s teams won 19 in a row against Detroit.The Pistons treated home fans to their first win since the All-Star break. They hadn’t won at the Palace of Auburn Hills since Feb. 13.

NOTES—At this point, the reason Derrick Rose hasn’t returned from the ACL tear he suffered a year ago is like the Kennedy assassination. There are a million theories around it and no one really knows.One of the new ones is that Rose is hesitant to return because he doesn’t want a minutes-limit return if he comes back. Over the weekend, Rose disputed that idea:

“I wouldn’t mind at all,” he said. “Of course I want to play more. But it’s not that big. I’m going to play whenever I’m ready. I don’t care if it’s 15 or 40 (minutes). I just love the game too much. Like I said, I’m just waiting and praying about it. And hopefully I’ll be out there soon.”

Since the likelihood of Rose sitting out the season increases with each day, he got asked if having another summer of rehabilitation and drill work would benefit him.

“I think it is where it gives me more time to work out if I don’t play,” Rose said. “But I think I have enough time already knowing I haven’t played in a long time. Just taking that time and getting my body together, it could definitely be big. But I’m going to come back whenever I’m ready.”……The Bulls last loss to the Pistons was Dec. 23, 2008.

ATLANTA—The deficit was getting bigger, the clock becoming an enemy and Louisville’s options were dwindling.

“I just kept telling the guys … `We’re going to make a run. It’s about defense,”‘ coach Rick Pitino said. “The tempo is not ours. Give them their credit, but the bench won the game for us tonight. Unbelievable display.”

Impressive comeback, too.Luke Hancock came off the bench to score 20 points, walk-on Tim Henderson sparked a second-half rally with a pair of monster 3s and Louisville advanced to the NCAA title game Saturday night, escaping with a 72-68 victory over Wichita State.Now the Cardinals (34-5) will try and win it all for their emotional leader on the bench, injured Kevin Ware. As the final buzzer sounded, Ware stood up, grinning as he thrust his arms above his head.Louisville will play the winner of Syracuse-Michigan for the national title Monday night. It is the Cardinals’ first trip to the title game since they won it all in 1986.

“We just played super hard,” said Russ Smith, who led the Cardinals with 21 points. “Nobody wanted to go home.”

Cleanthony Early had 24 for the ninth-seeded Shockers (30-9), who nearly pulled off their biggest upset of all.Wichita State had knocked off No. 1 seed Gonzaga and Ohio State on its way to its first Final Four since 1965, and the Shockers had a 12-point lead on Louisville with 13:35 to play. It was the largest deficit all tournament for the Cardinals, who seemed out of sorts after an emotional week following Ware’s gruesome injury; he snapped his tibia and the bone broke through the skin during last weekend’s Midwest Regional final.But Louisville had come back to win five games after trailing by nine points or more already this year, including rallying from a 16-point deficit in the title game at the Big East tournament.This one trumped them all.

“It’s tough for Wichita State to lose this game tonight because they played great. We had to dig in,” Pitino said. “Four of our starters had their worst start of the season. We had to win the game with our second unit.”

Henderson, the walk-on who was forced into increased playing time because of Ware’s injury, made back-to-back 3s to spark a 21-8 run. While Hancock and Behanan were knocking down shots, Smith and Peyton Siva were turning up the heat on the Shockers.After going more than 26 minutes without a turnover, Siva darted in to strip the ball away from Carl Hall. He fed Hancock, who drilled a 3 that gave Louisville a 56-55 lead, its first since the end of the first half.

“Down the stretch, we were just loose with the ball, we just didn’t take care of it, pretty much,” Wichita State’s Malcolm Armstead said. “I can’t give you an explanation – it just happened.”

Early would give the Shockers one more lead, converting a three-point play. But Siva scored and then Smith stole the ball and took it in for an easy layup that gave Louisville a 60-58 lead with 4:47 left. Louisville fans erupted, and even Ware was on his feet, throwing up his arms and clapping. The Cardinals extended the lead to 65-60 on a tip-in of a Smith miss and another 3 by Hancock.Wichita State had one last chance, pulling within 68-66 on Early’s tip in with 22 seconds left. But the Shockers were forced to foul, and Smith and Hancock made their free throws to seal the victory.As the final buzzer sounded, Chane Behanan tossed the ball high into the air and Henderson and Hancock did a flying shoulder bump at midcourt.
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Don’t call these guys the Fab Five.Michigan’s latest group of young stars is determined to leave its own legacy.Attacking Syracuse’s suffocating zone defense in the first half with 3-pointers, crisp passing and a fearless attitude, the Wolverines advanced to the national championship game with a 61-56 victory over the Orange in the Final Four on Saturday night.  Michigan (31-7) will be going for its first national title since 1989 when it faces Louisville on Monday at the Georgia Dome. Syracuse (30-10) failed to complete an all-Big East final in the fabled league’s last season before breaking up.Louisville was established as a 4 1/2-point title game favorite.Don’t expect that to bother the brash young Wolverines a bit.Even though the Wolverines got sloppy in the second half they hung on at the end, winning despite a tough night for Associated Press player of the year Trey Burke. He scored only seven points.Trailing 58-56, the Orange had a chance to force overtime. But Brandon Triche was called for a foul when Jordan Morgan stepped in to take the charge with 19.2 seconds left.

“Jordan is our best charge-taker,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “He stood in there and took a good one.”

After Jon Horford made only one of two free throws, Syracuse called timeout and set up a play. Curiously, the Orange didn’t attempt a tying 3-pointer. Instead, Trevor Cooney drove the lane looking to put up an easier shot. But the ball was swatted away, Michigan saved it from going out of bounds and Morgan wound up taking a long pass the other way.He threw down a thunderous slam with just over a second remaining to cap the triumph.Triche blamed himself for driving the ball recklessly into the lane when Syracuse had a chance to tie it.

“I was just trying to make a play for the team,” he said. “I probably should have made a better decision, probably should have pulled up for the jump shot. … I did see him, but I figured, I was already in the air jumping.”

With Burke struggling (he made only one shot from the field all night), Michigan got an unexpected contribution off the bench from freshmen Caris LeVert and Spike Albrecht. LeVert scored eight points and Albrecht chipped in with six – all of them crucial after the Wolverines went cold in the second half and struggled to put away the Orange. Tim Hardaway Jr. led the Wolverines with 13 points.

NASHVILLE—Bryan Bickell scored in the first period, and Ray Emery made 20 saves and the Blackhawks beat the Nashville Predators 1-0 Saturday for their third win in four games.The Hawks improved to 12-0-1 against the Central Division this season and moved closer to clinching the playoff berth.The Blackhawks won their third against Nashville this season and second in six days.This is the first of a back-to-back between these teams with the second game Sunday night in the United Center.Nashville lost its second straight and fourth in five games.Emery posted his second shutout and the 13th of his career, and his team improved to 16-3-4 in one-goal games this season.The Hawks came in needing just four points to clinch that playoff berth. Now Blackhawks could clinch before taking the ice Sunday with losses by a couple other teams.With the afternoon faceoff, enough of the Blackhawks’ faithful got a flight to Nashville to make it feel like the United Center chanting, “Let’s go Hawks” even before the puck dropped. The arena was packed with 17,256 fans in attendance in a building whose capacity is listed at 17,113.The Predators are the Western Conference’s only team to reach the semifinals each of the past two seasons but desperately needed a win with only nine games left.They had their chances in the third with a double minor when Daniel Carcillo high-sticked Nashville captain Shea Weber, nicking the defenseman’s nose and drawing blood at 7:58 of the third.But the Blackhawks improved to 16 of their past 16 penalty kills. Patric Hornqvist poked away a would-be empty netter by Michael Frolik with 1:30 left.Nashville took its timeout only to see Emery stop several chances including a wraparound pass from Taylor Beck to Hornqvist. Brandon Yip was just wide of the net before the final horn.The Blackhawks jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Michal Handzus found Bickell on a cross-ice pass that Bickell one-timed past Pekka Rinne catching the Nashville goalie out of position at 5:31 of the first period.The Hawks outshot Nashville 10-2 with one of the Predators’ rare chances broken up when  Seabrook hooked Nick Spaling on a breakaway chance.Nashville managed a late flurry, but Emery had a kick save on a Weber shot with 1:05 left in the first.In the second, Emery stopped David Legwand from in front, got help when a Hawk tripped Matt Halischuk at the crease and then the goalie made a stop on Spaling as the Predators spent more time in the offensive zone.

NOTES—Patrick Kane gave Hawk fans a bit of a scare early in the second when he appeared to catch an edge and his knees smashed into the goal post. He skated slowly to the bench before returning. … Nashville defenseman Hal Gill turned 38 Saturday, and he’s the only player over 37 to play for the Predators. He’s 18th among active players, having played 1,093 games. … Nashville C Paul Gaustad was scratched with an upper body injury.

SAN ANTONIO—The Chicago Rush (1-2) got their defense going, forced two fumbles into instant Touchdowns, and went on to beat the San Antonio Talons (0-2) by a margin of 48-41 at the Alamodome on Friday night. San Antonio took the lead with a quick one-yard touchdown run by fullback Chad “Tank” Cook. The Rush answered back quickly with a 2-yard run in by quarterback Carson Coffman. They then took the lead after Jack linebacker Kelvin Morris scooped up a fumble and returned it 11 yards for a score.

The second quarter proved to be a great defensive battle, with both teams scoring only one touchdown in the quarter. The Rush scored with a four-yard pass caught by Rodney Wright to bring the score to 28-14 in favor of the Rush. The Talons answered back when Dwayne Eley caught a 13-yard pass from Rohan Davey. who entered the game in relief duty for John Dutton, who was shaken up on a play early in the game.

The third quarter was dominated by the Rush as they came out strong in the second half as well, kicking off the third quarter with two touchdowns by Coffman and Brian McNally. Cook and the Talons answered back with another rushing score. The Talons scored twice in the 4th quarter, narrowing the margin to 42-41 with less than a minute to play. However, a 13-yard pass from Coffman to fullback J.J. Payne proved to be the final score of the game, giving the Rush their first victory of the season and dropping the Talons to 0-2 on the year.
The Rush host Pittsburgh next Sunday afternoon at 3pm in Allstate Arena.
LES