ROSEMONT—Brandon Young had a team-high 19 points, including four in the final minute and a half, as DePaul snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 65-60 victory over Seton Hall Tuesday night.Billy Garrett Jr. and Durrell McDonald had 15 points apiece and Sandi Marcius added 10 as the Blue Demons (11-18, 3-13 Big East) won for the first time since Jan. 14, a 77-75 victory against St. John’s, with all the losses coming in-conference.Fuquan Edwin had a game-high 21 points to lead Seton Hall (14-14, 5-10). Edwin, though, was hampered by a sprained thumb in the second half and didn’t score in the final 13 minutes of the game. He left the game briefly midway through the second half and missed his only two field-goal attempts after returning. Edwin has led the Pirates in scoring in four straight games.The game was decided at the line, where DePaul went 17 of 18 and Seton Hall made just 5 of 11.Seton Hall posted an 86-69 victory in the first meeting between the
teams Jan. 25 at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.DePaul committed turnovers on two of its first three possessions and fell behind 7-2 early in the game. It appeared it might be another long night, but the Blue Demons responded with a 14-4 run to take a 16-11.For the season, DePaul entered the game shooting 40.9 percent from the field, but was locked in during the first half. The Blue Demons were 15-for-21 (71.4 percent) from the field in the first half, including four of eight from three-point range. The hot-shooting helped them to a 38-29 halftime lead despite 10 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.Seton Hall opened the second half with a 13-4 run to tie the score at 42 with just over 15 minutes left. After a pair of free throws by Garrett put DePaul back on top, the Pirates ran off eight straight points for a 50-44 lead with just under 13 minutes to go.But instead of folding, the Blue Demons rallied and scored eight straight to reclaim a 52-50
advantage. The game was tight down the stretch before DePaul ended with a 9-2 spurt.With the score tied at 58 with just under three minutes left, McDonald hit a long three-pointer as the shot clock expired to give DePaul a 61-58 edge. A little than a minute later, Young had a steal and a fast break layup to make it 63-58 with 1:29 to go. He added the game’s final points on a pair of free throws with 12.7 seconds to go.

SPRINGFIELD—Christian Kirk scored 16 points and Keith Pickens 14 as Missouri State defeated Loyola 72-56 Tuesday night to stake out – for the moment – sole possession of third place in the Missouri Valley Conference, which begins its post-season tournament next week.The Bears (19-10, 9-8 MVC) led wire-to-wire and forced 13 Loyola turnovers, outscoring the Ramblers (9-20, 4-13) off turnovers 15-2 in the first half alone.Jarmar Gulley scored 10 points with 10 rebounds, his 15th straight game scoring in double figures.The Ramblers came as close as eight after halftime, 52-44, when Tony Nixon hit a 3 and Milton Doyle added a free throw at 8:23 remaining, but never got closer.Nixon led Loyola with 15 points off the bench. Joe Crisman added 14 before fouling out.Missouri State is in a four-way scrum for third in the MVC and face unbeaten Wichita State on Saturday.

RaM

MIAMI—LeBron James watched from the bench in a stylish gray suit, and with the game deadlocked at halftime, he took off his necktie.Soon the tie on the scoreboard was gone, too. Stout defense plus Chris Bosh’s outside shooting and a boost from Miami’s reserves helped the Heat overcome the absence of their MVP on Sunday to beat the Chicago Bulls 93-79.

”We were missing a pretty big man,” Dwyane Wade said. ”There’s nothing we can do to replace the best player in the world, but we just had to go out there and play team basketball on both ends of the floor.”

James was a late scratch after he broke his nose in Thursday’s win at Oklahoma City, and his teammates picked up the slack. Former NBA No. 1 draft pick Greg Oden replaced James for his first NBA start since December 2009, and reserves Chris Andersen, Michael Beasley and Ray Allen helped the Heat pull away in the second half.

”You don’t want to see guys out,” said coach Erik Spoelstra, who earned his 300th career victory. ”But when guys are out, I’m always curious to see how you respond as a team. We’ve have several of these games that could have been excuse games, but guys have stepped up.”

Bosh tied a career high with four 3-pointers and had 28 points and 10 rebounds. Wade added 23 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, while Mario Chalmers contributed 12 points and nine assists.Defense did the rest against the offensively challenged Bulls.

”We’re starting to put it together defensively,” Bosh said. ”We got off to a slow start early in the season, but I think right now we’re starting to get it, starting to click.”

Like the Heat, the Bulls were also short-handed, with starter Jimmy Butler a late scratch because of bruised ribs. They shot 36 percent, went 6 for 21 from 3-point range and were called for a 24-second violation at least six times, including twice in a row.

”We weren’t playing with a good enough thrust,” guard Kirk Hinrich said. ”We were slow getting into our stuff. We didn’t make quick decisions, and we got stuck fighting the clock.”

Joakim Noah had 20 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks for the Bulls, who had won five in a row.

”Those guys have ended our seasons a lot,” Noah said. ”You’ve got to hate playing those guys, and every time we play them our intensity has to be high. We did it in spurts, it wasn’t good the whole time, and that’s what’s disappointing.”

Miami, playing at home for the first time in 20 days, extended its winning streak to five games.Wade sealed the victory by sinking a jumper with less than three minutes left, giving the Heat their first 18-point lead. Earlier two of his points came on free throws after he improvised a backward somersault when fouled hard in the lane.Otherwise there weren’t a lot of acrobatics from the typically high-flying Heat, who shot 42 percent and had only seven fast-break points.Contributing to the workmanlike effort was the 7-foot Oden, playing his 11th game after being sidelined by knee trouble for 3½ years. He had five points and five rebounds in 13 minutes.James, missing a game for only the second time this season, drew a big ovation when he was shown on the video scoreboard during an early timeout. During another timeout in the fourth quarter, when the Heat had built a big cushion, he danced to music blaring over the public address system while his teammates huddled.They scored on seven consecutive possessions during a 16-2 run at the end of the third quarter that put them ahead 65-52. The catalysts were unlikely: In quick succession, Andersen dunked on an alley-oop, Allen hit a runner and Beasley banked home a basket.

”It doesn’t matter if LeBron’s out,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. ”They’re a good team. That team has other players. Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade — those are All-Stars, too. The bench is deep. That’s a championship team.”

NOTES—Spoelstra earned his 300th victory in his 448th game. Only five coaches reached the milestone more quickly, including his boss, Pat Riley, who did it the fastest at 416 games. … Wade’s seven offensive rebounds were a career high. … The Bulls fell to 24-6 when leading after one quarter. … Miami improved to 8-1 in February….The Bulls are in Atlanta Tuesday night.

2014 Sochi Olympics

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  Canada’s players huddle as they celebrate defeating Sweden in their men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

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  Sweden’s players stand dejected at the flower ceremony after Canada won their men’s ice hockey gold medal match at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

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  Canada’s goalie Carey Price (L) and teammates Dan Hamhuis (C) and Jonathan Toews celebrate after defeating Sweden in the men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Jim Young

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  Canada’s Sidney Crosby (L) scores on a breakaway past Sweden’s goalie Henrik Lundqvist during the second period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Julio Cortez/Pool

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  Canada’s Chris Kunitz (R) celebrates his goal against Sweden’s goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) with his linemates during the third period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

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  Canada’s Jeff Carter tries to hit a bouncing puck past Sweden’s goalie Henrik Lundqvist (R) as Sweden’s Alexander Steen looks on during the third period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal match at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Jim Young

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  Canada’s Chris Kunitz (R) celebrates after scoring as Sweden’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson skates past during the third period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal match at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Jim Young

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  Canada’s Sidney Crosby (front) celebrates after scoring against Sweden during the second period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal match at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

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  Canada’s Sidney Crosby scores on a breakaway past Sweden’s goalie Henrik Lundqvist (C) as Sweden’s Loui Eriksson looks on during the second period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

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  Canada’s Sidney Crosby (front) celebrates after scoring against Sweden during the second period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal match at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

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  Sweden’s goalie Henrik Lundqvist lies on the ice after Canada’s Sidney Crosby (not seen) scored on a breakaway during the second period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

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  Canada’s Sidney Crosby (C) is congratulated on his goal against Sweden by his teammates during the second period of the men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

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  Canada’s goalie Carey Price makes a save against Sweden during the second period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

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  Canada’s Sidney Crosby (87) scores on Sweden’s goalie Henrik Lundqvist during the second period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

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  Canada’s Jonathan Toews of the Blackhawks (16) celebrates his goal against Sweden with his teammates during the first period of their men’s ice hockey gold medal game at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games February 23, 2014. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

SOCHI—For the second time in as many Olympics, Canada has won hockey gold.Jonathan Toews scored the game’s first goal, Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz added the insurance tallies and Carey Price saved 24 shots as Team Canada blanked Sweden 3-0 to win the gold medal in Sochi on Sunday.From start to finish in Sochi, Canada never trailed for one minute of action, dominating opponents from round-robin play on. However Canada took it to an even higher level in the last two games, shutting out the USA 1-0 in the semifinals and then finishing Sweden with the 3-0 win. In six games total in Sochi, Canada gave up three goals.Sunday’s gold-medal final played out pretty similar to that USA game a couple of days ago. The two teams played to a relative draw in the first 10 minutes of the game until Canada just wore down the opposition and got stronger as the game went along. While “nursing” a lead in the third period, Canada outshot Sweden 13-4. In other words, Sweden never stood a chance.All game Canada did to Sweden what they’ve done to everybody else, simply control the puck. More often than not, the men in red were carrying the puck on their sticks and there were moments at even strength that you couldn’t help but think Canada was on the power play.No country stood a chance for that matter, Canada was too good. Gone are the days of disappointment away from North America and on the big ice, Canada looked as good as ever. That’s no hyperbole either, even with a shortage of goals at times, they were barely challenged in this tournament outside of an overtime game against Finland in the opening round and a scare from a Latvian goalie who was standing on his head. Other than that, pure dominance.The men’s gold is added on to Team Canada’s women winning gold, giving Canada a second straight gold-medal sweep in hockey. As if there were any doubt that should erase it as to which country is the world’s premier hockey power.

CEDAR FALLS—Seth Tuttle scored 18 points, on 6-of-10 shooting, to lead Northern Iowa to a 72-59 win over Illinois State on Sunday.Northern Iowa (14-14, 8-8 Missouri Valley Conference) opened with a 10-0 run to build a lead that was never challenged, taking a 40-24 advantage into the break and then protecting it in the second half.Matt Bohannon contributed 14 points, Nate Buss added 13 and Jeremy Morgan 10 for the Panthers, who avenged a Feb. 8 loss to Illinois State and moved back into a third place tie with the win. Tuttle, who was 6 of 6 from the free throw line, also had nine rebounds.Illinois State (15-13, 8-8) outscored the Panthers 35-32 in the second half but couldn’t erase the 16-point halftime deficit.Zach Lofton led the Redbirds with a career-high 24 points, while Reggie Lynch added 10 in the loss.

EVANSTON—Indiana got scoring from five different players during an 18-4 run midway through the game, then held on for a 61-56 win over Northwestern on Saturday night.Indiana’s Yogi Ferrell, Troy Williams, Noah Vonleh and Will Sheehey each had 12 points as the Hoosiers (15-11, 5-8 Big Ten) ended a three-game losing streak and extended Northwestern’s (12-16, 5-10) slide to five.Northwestern’s Tre Demps, who made his first start this season as part of a juggled Wildcats lineup, finished with 19 points. Alex Olah added 17 and 11 rebounds.The Hoosier’s run started with a 6-2 spurt to close out the first half. Indiana lead 32-30 after 20 minutes after Vonleh hit a layup as time ran out.The Hoosiers opened up their widest advantage, at 12 points, 7:25 into the second when Stanford Robinson hit a pair of free throws to make it 44-32. Northwestern shot just 1 for 8 from the floor to open the half and connected at 38.8 percent for the game.Demps closed it to 54-50 with 2:21 left when his layup was counted on a goaltending call, but Williams replied with a layup on the next Indiana possession.Indiana avenged a 54-47 loss to Northwestern at Bloomington, Ind. on Jan. 18. The Hoosiers hadn’t won since a 63-53 upset of Michigan on Feb. 2.Northwestern’s losing streak dates to a 55-54 win at Minnesota on Feb. 1.Northwestern coach Chris Collins was forced to shuffle his lineup as his second-leading scorer, JerShon Cobb, missed the game with a foot injury.That allowed Demps, who entered the game as the Wildcats third leading scorer, to make his first start this season. He had come off the bench in all of Northwestern’s 27 previous contests, averaging 10.9 points per game.Guard Dave Sobolewski, who had averaged fewer than 2 minutes in Northwestern’s last six, also started.The Hoosiers lost 82-64 at Purdue last in their last game last Sunday. They were done in by a 19-1 Purdue run midway through the game in that one.Indiana’s last scheduled game, versus Iowa at Bloomington, Ind. on Tuesday, was postponed several hours before tipoff after an 8-foot piece of metal fell from the ceiling at Assembly Hall. The game will be made up on Thursday.Neither Indiana nor Northwestern was able to open more than a four-point lead in the first half, or take control in a back-and-forth opening period marked by missed open shots, and bouts of scrappy play and loose ball control.Olah led all scorers in the first with 12 points. Northwestern’s beefy 7-foot center was 5-for-8 from the floor, and a couple of times looked surprised that he had an open shot. Demps added nine points, including two 3-pointers.

ROSEMONT—Davante Gardner scored seven of his 22 points in overtime, including a key three-point play, and Marquette held on for a 96-94 victory over DePaul on Saturday.Gardner made a strong move inside and drew a foul on Greg Sequele with 1:44 left, then made the resulting foul shot to give the Golden Eagles a 91-89 lead. Derrick Wilson added a layup and Gardner made two more free throws to make it a six-point game with 32 seconds left.DePaul closed to 96-94 when Brandon Young made a layup with 6 seconds to go and Gardner then threw the ball away. Durrell McDonald tried one last 3-pointer for DePaul, but it was short.Todd Mayo scored 19 points and Jamil Wilson had 18 for Marquette (16-11, 8-6 Big East), which has won four of five. Chris Otule scored 12 points after he was scoreless at halftime.Young had 29 points for the Blue Demons (10-18, 2-13), who have lost 10 straight. Billy Garrett Jr. scored a career-high 26 and McDonald had 13 points.Gardner made a tiebreaking free throw with 30 seconds left in regulation, lifting Marquette to an 80-79 lead. After Garrett missed a tough layup inside, Jamil Wilson made two more foul shots to make it a three-point game with 8 seconds to go.Plenty of time for the freshman Garrett, who calmly drilled a tying 3-pointer from the wing with 2.6 seconds remaining. Garrett then pounded on his chest while the crowd cheered and Derrick Wilson made a 75-footer for Marquette that was waived off because coach Buzz Williams had called for a timeout, just adding to the bedlam.The Golden Eagles tried for a long pass down the court that was broken up, sending the game to overtime.It looked as if Marquette was going to put DePaul away when it opened the second half with a 12-1 run, grabbing a 56-42 lead on Juan Anderson’s layup with 15:21 to go. Otule had a backboard-shaking dunk and a pair of layups in the spurt.But the Blue Demons turned up the pressure on defense and slowly chipped away at the deficit. Garrett’s 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock capped an 8-0 run and tied it at 68 with 6:23 remaining, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.DePaul missed its first 10 shots and was scoreless before DeJuan Marrero made his second free-throw attempt with 13:47 left, trimming Marquette’s lead to 7-1 and drawing a round of sarcastic cheers from the crowd. Garrett then hit a 3-pointer for DePaul’s first field goal, and the Blue Demons began to find some holes in the Golden Eagles’ stout defense.Forrest Robinson made a 3-pointer and Garrett hit two foul shots to give DePaul a 28-27 lead with 5:11 to go. But Thomas responded with consecutive 3-pointers and Mayo made two foul shots to restore the Golden Eagles’ seven-point advantage.Jamil Wilson and Young exchanged three-point plays in the final seconds of the half, leaving the Golden Eagles with a 44-41 lead at the break. Marquette shot 56 percent in the first half, making 4 of 5 3-point attempts.

2014 Sochi Olympics

SOCHI—The Americans made no bones about it — their goal coming into the Olympics was to win a gold medal. They believed it was their time, this was their best chance to do it for the first time in 34 years.That showed in the bronze-medal game. How, you ask? The USA didn’t seem to want to be there.OK, so that’s not entirely fair. The effort from the American team couldn’t be questioned too much after the first period. The USA had some good pressure and guys like Ryan Kesler were showing they were playing for the medal by saving goals with half his body and making himself a wall.Problem was, that effort didn’t continue into the final 40 minutes while Finland had no such issues. It was no surprise then that the Finns ran away with the bronze, outscoring the USA 5-0 in the final two periods.Never did that effort look worse than in the third period. Team USA entered the final 20 minutes only down two goals, still within reach at that point. Then the US had zero — ZERO! — scoring chances in the period. In total, the Americans only had five shots on goal. As a team that was losing. It got to the point that they were committing silly penalties and for the most part playing at half speed. At moments it looked like they were in an All-Star Game.Questioning the effort of the American players happened immediately. Even the players were doing it right after the game.
Teemu Selanne scored the first of his two goals to open the scoring.After a scoreless first period that was played pretty evenly, Finland began the second by killing the remnants of an American power play. Seconds later, the ageless wonder Selanne was a step behind the American defense and finished a shot past Jonathan Quick with a near-post back-hander, a thing of beauty. Compounding the issue for the USA was that just 11 seconds later Jussi Jokinen made the game 2-0 when the USA looked lost in the neutral zone.The Americans pushed for the remainder of the second period but were unable to score against Tuukka Rask and that stout Finnish defense and by the time the third period came, the Americans looked like they had given up. Finland poured it in getting goals from Jusso Heitanen, Selanne again and finally Olli Maatta to wrap up what was a route to win the bronze.It is the fourth time in the last five Olympic Games since the NHL has participated that Finland comes away with an medal.The best chances for the USA came on penalty shots. The United States got a shot at one in the first period when Kimmo Timonen shot a broken stick at Ryan Kesler, who had the puck, which results in an automatic penalty shot at the international level. Patrick Kane took the attempt but hit the cage. In the second period, Kane would get another attempt at a penalty shot when his breakaway attempt was interrupted by a slash from behind. Kane elected to shoot and he had Rask beat up high but the puck hit the cage and stayed out. After that, the USA had little to speak of.Rask ended up making 25 saves in the game for the shutout.USA came into these Olympics with very high aspirations but it ended the same as just about every other Olympic tournament held outside of North America, without a medal.
“I think it started yesterday, we didn’t show up to play a tough team in Canada and lost that game,” captain Zach Parise said to NBC Sports after the game. “Just today, I thought we had a pretty good start but once we gave up that first goal, we kind of deflated. They played like they had something to win and we just kind of shut it down.
“It’s kind of disappointing, kind of embarrassed about what happened, especially today. It wasn’t a good effort by us.”
Goalie Jonathan Quick, who was hung out to dry a few times, was equally harsh.
“We’re professionals. We play back-to-backs all year long,” Quick said. “There’s no reason we show up and not piss a drop.”
Excuse the effort away as being in a bronze-medal game all you want but the fact is Team USA was still playing for something and didn’t show up for the final two periods. Normally the cliché of “that team wanted it more” is so ridiculous and almost insulting but in this case, it’s indisputable. The Finns wanted it more than the USA and they got it.Still, it is hard to read a ton into the bronze-medal game other than the teams’ desire. If the US and Finland played in a different setting, perhaps in the knockout round or in pool play, it’s probably not a five-goal difference. That’s something to consider.So when you look beyond that game, there are still some big concerns. What’s as distressing as that effort was the fact that the USA offense disappeared. They were shut out in the final two games. Granted, those are two very good defensive teams but still, no goals in six periods. Against the trio of Canada, Finland and Russia, the USA had no goals at even strength.Based on where Team USA has looked in tournaments outside of North America in the past, there are ways to try and look at a fourth-place finish in a rosy manner. But in a testament to USA Hockey, medals are the expectation now. That wasn’t always the case but it is now. So even though they fared better than in Turin in 2006 or Nagano in 1998, it still feels disappointing, especially to end the Olympics on that note in the bronze-medal game.The fact is the United States still brought a very strong team to the Olympics and assuming the NHL will return in 2018, is still going to be in the conversation, especially as the young players that made up the 2013 World Junior Championship team mature. Tempering the disappiontment with perspective is important.But ending on that note, getting shut out by a combined 6-0 in two medal-round games stings. A tournament that started so well for the USA ended as one to forget.

Matt Ross scored five of his seven points in the final 2 minutes, each time bumping Chicago State out from a one-point lead, and Rahjan Muhammad added three free throws in the final 13 seconds as the Cougars fended off Cal State Bakersfield 73-68 on Saturday.Quinton Pippen led the Cougars (11-15, 6-6 Western Athletic Conference) with 18 points and Clarke Rosenberg added 16 with five assists and four steals. Muhammad and Eddie Denard scored 11 each.Bakersfield (12-15, 5-8) entered on a three-game win streak, its longest since November, and while the Roadrunners never led in the second half, they came from 11 down to within 50-48 on three consecutive 3-pointers, two by Issiah Grayson and one by Javonte Maynor. The battle was on the rest of the way as Bakersfield often was within a point.Grayson scored 21 for the Roadrunners, Brandon Barnes and Maynor 11 each.

This one was all over in the first quarter, right about the time Jimmy Butler’s only 3-pointer made it a 20-point game.Another fast start for the Bulls sent the Denver Nuggets to an embarrassing loss for first-year coach Brian Shaw.D.J. Augustin had 22 points and eight assists, and the Bulls routed the Nuggets 117-89 Friday night for their fifth consecutive victory.

”I just thought it was well-balanced,”  Tom Thibodeau said. ”I thought it was strong on both sides of the ball.”

Rookie Tony Snell added a career-high 20 points as the Bulls put seven players in double figures. Taj Gibson had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Joakim Noah finished with 14 points, 11 boards and five assists.Randy Foye scored 23 points for Denver, which has lost six of seven. Aaron Brooks had 17 on 7-for-11 shooting in 28 minutes in his Nuggets debut, which also included a technical foul when he was involved in a tussle with Noah in the third.

”I got a little bit more confident toward the end,” Brooks said. ”You can tell the team is a little rusty as far as me getting in there, but I think we’ll figure it out.”

Denver acquired Brooks and forward Jan Vesely in a pair of trades on Thursday. The 7-foot Vesely had five points and five rebounds in 16 minutes.While Shaw was pleased with the play of his newest players, he sounded frustrated when describing the rest of the roster.

”It felt like tonight we had some guys who just decided they weren’t going to play, they weren’t going to put forth any effort to get the job done,” he said. ”It’s unfortunate. This is a nationally televised game, and we’re professionals. As a staff, we have to beg guys to give effort when we play.”

The Bulls shot 50 percent and outrebounded the Nuggets 50-40 while improving to 17-7 since Jan. 1. They jumped to a 23-point halftime lead and then put it away with a 16-5 run at the end of the third quarter.Mike Dunleavy, Carlos Boozer and Kirk Hinrich had 10 points apiece for the Bulls, who will go for a season-high sixth straight win Sunday at Miami.

”We feel like we’re playing at a high level,” Gibson said. ”Our defense is phenomenal, I think.”

Forced to play short-handed due to the trades and a slew of injuries, Denver used only eight players in Thursday night’s 101-90 victory at lowly Milwaukee. Brooks and Vesely were cleared in time to play, but the Bulls jumped all over the weary Nuggets right at the start.

”We act like a big, bad wolf against Milwaukee last night, then we come in tonight, nationally televised game against the Bulls, and we tuck our tails and hide,” Shaw said.

The Bulls used runs of 13-2 and 8-0 to open a 32-12 lead on Butler’s 3-pointer with 1 minute left in the first quarter. Brooks responded with seven straight points, but the Bulls led 32-19 after one.In the continuation of an encouraging trend for the Bulls, who have outscored their opponents by an average of 29.9 to 18.3 in the opening period over the last seven games. The only issue for the Bulls from their latest fast start was the health of Butler, who bruised a rib late in the opening period. Thibodeau said he is day to day and could travel with the team to Miami on Saturday.

”It’s one of those things, with a rib, we have to see how he is when he gets up tomorrow,” Thibodeau said.

It was more of the same in the second. Snell had 10 points in the quarter on 4-for-5 shooting, helping the Bulls to a 69-46 lead at the break. It was a season-high point total for any half for the Bulls, and the most allowed by Denver in a half all season.The Nuggets also lost Darrell Arthur to a strained left hip in the second, shelving the forward for the rest of the game. The team said he irritated a previous injury.

”It’s something in the groin, hip area,” Shaw said. ”When he came out of the game, he said his hip was bothering him. I don’t know if it’s the exact same (injury as earlier this season), but it’s in that region.”

NOTES—Shaw said PG Ty Lawson (broken left rib) still feels some pain at times when he tries certain moves in practice. ”I don’t know if he’s getting close or if he’s not,” Shaw said. ”He says he’s feeling better.” Lawson has missed Denver’s last five games. … The Bulls’ previous high for points in a half was 64 in the first half of a 107-104 loss at Philadelphia on Nov. 2. … Nuggets F Kenneth Faried was whistled for a flagrant foul for taking down Snell with 3:42 left in the third. Noah and Brooks then received technicals for their roles in a resulting skirmish.