After making a statement off the court, Jimmy Butler has taken his game to a new level.Butler had 32 points and a season-high 10 assists to lead the streaking Bulls to a 117-106 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.Pau Gasol scored 26 points with 11 rebounds, and Taj Gibson added 11 points and 14 boards as the Bulls led the entire way in their season-best fifth straight win.

Butler was critical of coach Fred Hoiberg after a blowout loss to the Knicks on Dec. 19, saying, ”we probably have to be coached a lot harder at times.” Since then, the Bulls have picked up their game by scoring 100 or more points in eight straight games. ”It wasn’t what I said, or what anybody else said, it’s what we said together as a team in that locker room. Everybody knows, and that’s, we have a really good team on paper, and out there on the court, but if we don’t play for one another, if we don’t stick together, we’re not a real good team,” Butler said.

Derrick Rose returned to the Bulls after missing three games with a sore right hamstring. He showed no effects of the injury and took the ball to the basket all night, finishing with 16 points. ”I thought Derrick was good. He was a little rusty out of the gate. Once he started attacking the basket, I really liked the way he was playing,”

Hoiberg said. Butler was coming off a record-breaking performance Sunday, when he scored 40 of his 42 points in the second half of a 115-113 victory at Toronto to surpass Michael Jordan’s team mark for points in a half. This time, Butler had 20 points in the first half on 8-of-11 shooting.Khris Middleton scored 26 for Milwaukee, and Michael Carter-Williams had 20 points and 12 assists.Carter-Williams was disappointed with his team’s effort to start the game. ”No excuses, but we came off a back-to-back. We came out lazy and at 10-0, we woke up a little bit. But we can’t start off 10-0,” he said. Milwaukee got to 90-89 on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s basket with a minute left in the third quarter, but the Bulls answered with an 8-0 run. Antetokounmpo finished with 18 points and seven rebounds.The Bulls shot 61 percent in the first half and led 67-61. Gasol scored 13 points and Gibson added nine. Middleton led the Bucks with 18 on 7-of-12 shooting.

”I don’t think we’re different people than we were three, four weeks ago. I see a progression, I see a development which I like,” Gasol said. ”Again, can we keep it this way for the entire, for every single game from here on out? We’re bringing the energy, we’re bringing the focus that is required in this league, then we have a chance because we have plenty of talent, as we all know.”

Jabari Parker played his first professional game for the Bucks in his hometown. Parker, a 2013 graduate of Simeon High School south side, missed most of the 2014-15 season after ACL surgery on his left knee. He finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.

”It was a good experience. It was cool, good that I got a chance to experience it for the first time. I had a lot of family here. Coaches (from Simeon) couldn’t make it out – they had practice today,” Parker said.

Despite his recent scoring outburst, Butler is still finding ways to get his teammates going. ”He is making the right decisions out there and playing the right way. He is getting his teammates involved, making plays and giving great efforts defensively,” Hoiberg said.

NOTES—Milwaukee again played without guard Jerryd Bayless because of a left ankle injury. Bayless was back in the lineup Monday against San Antonio after missing 11 games in December with the same injury. ”It just is what it is,” interim coach Joe Prunty said. ”Obviously, it is frustrating. You want to be at full strength, but that’s part of the NBA. You look at last night’s game – San Antonio’s without (Tony) Parker. Chicago’s been without Rose. That’s just part of the NBA. The next man has to be ready to step up.” The Bulls faced Milwaukee for the first time since beating the Bucks 120-66 in the Game 6 clincher of their opening-round playoff series last year. It was the worst postseason loss in Bucks history. . The Bulls host Boston on Thursday.Milwaukee hosts Dallas on Friday

ROSEMONT—Kellen Dunham warmed up with two free throws, and then made two straight 3-pointers – all in the first 3 minutes.Dunham found his stroke at a key moment for No. 18 Butler.The senior guard scored 24 points on 8-for-14 shooting, and the Bulldogs edged DePaul 77-72 on Tuesday night. ”He was really efficient and I thought his teammates did a nice job getting the ball to him at the right time,” Butler coach Chris Holtmann said. The Bulldogs (12-3, 1-2) put four players in double figures in their first Big East win after consecutive losses to No. 8 Providence and No. 10 Xavier. Andrew Chrabascz added 16 points, Roosevelt Jones scored 15 and Kelan Martin had 12 points, including a poster-worthy dunk over DePaul’s Darrick Wood in the second half.Dunham was 4 for 7 from beyond the arc in his return to the starting lineup after Holtmann tried using his leading scorer off the bench in Saturday’s 88-69 loss to the Musketeers. He made just 14 of 72 shots over his previous six games.With a matchup against No. 11 Villanova looming on Sunday night, the Bulldogs needed Dunham to return to form, and he delivered. ”Playing with guys like Tyler (Wideman) and Roosevelt make my life easy,” he said. ”I’m getting easier shots than I would have in the past few years and overall, just trusting the work I’ve put in my shot.” Myke Henry had 22 points and 10 rebounds for DePaul (6-9, 0-3), which has dropped three straight and six of seven. Tommy Hamilton IV added 19 points and nine rebounds, and Wood scored 15 points. ”It’s hard to compete when we’re beating ourselves,” Henry said. ”So I think we got to look within ourselves to stop beating DePaul and make the other school beat us.” R.J. Curington made two free throws to give the Blue Demons a 55-50 lead with 9:12 left, but Butler responded with a 12-2 run. Martin kicked it off with two foul shots and finished the surge with a layup that made it 62-57 with 5:43 to go.Henry’s layup got DePaul within three in the final seconds, but Dunham made two foul shots to help the Bulldogs hold on for their fourth straight win in the series.Butler turned 17 DePaul turnovers into 24 points, helping offset a 39-25 rebounding advantage for the Blue Demons. ”We gave the ball back to them too many times, first of all, and then some of the times that we gave it back to them were unforced errors that turned into baskets,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said. Butler has been outrebounded in each of its last three games. The Bulldogs are averaging 38.3 rebounds per game, compared to 33.1 for their opponent. ”Our rebounding is a concern for me right now,” Holtmann said. ”This is a very good rebounding team we played and they gave it to us here tonight.” Dunham scored 24 points in each of Butler’s two wins against DePaul last season. … Jones had five steals and four assists. … Wideman finished with six points, five rebounds and four blocked shots.Billy Garrett Jr. had nine points, leaving him with 995 for his career. … Freshman G Erten Gazi did not play. ”Last few days, he’s been a little light-headed,” Leitao said, ”and he was a little light-headed before the game, so we decided to kind of be very cautious about it.” … Henry played the whole game.DePaul visits Georgetown on Saturday.

PROVIDENCE—Providence star Kris Dunn was triple-teamed, and there wasn’t enough time left to find an open teammate.He leaned back and aimed for the rim, but Marquette freshman Henry Ellenson swatted the ball away.

”We didn’t even get a shot attempt,” Providence coach Ed Cooley said Tuesday night after the Golden Eagles beat the eighth-ranked Friars 65-64. ”That’s more frustrating than anything.”
Ellenson had 13 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots, swatting away Dunn’s attempted buzzer-beater to preserve the victory.
”We expected Dunn to take the shot,” said Haanif Cheatham, who led Marquette with 16 points. ”That’s not a bad player to take a shot.”
Duane Wilson scored on a layup with 31 seconds left to give Marquette (11-4, 1-2 Big East) the 65-64 lead. The Golden Eagles avoided opening the conference schedule with three straight losses for the first time since joining the Big East in 2005.
”I thought our guys showed incredible poise, toughness and fight,” Marquette coach Steve Wojchiechowski said. ”Really proud to beat an outstanding program.”
Ben Bentil scored 28 points, including 14 straight for the Friars in a key second-half run, and added nine rebounds for Providence (14-2, 2-1), which had won eight straight. Dunn had 20 points, seven assists, five rebounds and five steals for the Friars, who had climbed to their highest ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 since 1977.It was the Golden Eagles’ second victory over a ranked team this season. They beat then-No. 22 LSU in November.Providence fell behind 7-0, with five missed shots and four turnovers. Dunn finally ended the drought with 15:40 left in the half on a layup. But he didn’t score again until he hit a 3-pointer with 4 1-2 minutes left in the first half to cut Providence’s deficit to 24-17.The Friars did not take their first lead until a 16-4 run midway through the second. They led 58-50 with 6 minutes left before giving up eight straight points.
”We started the game bad and ended the game bad,” Cooley said. ”This one’s definitely on me. I’ve got to do a better job of getting my guys prepared.”
Dunn hit a 3-pointer to give the Friars a 61-58 lead. Providence led 64-61 when Ellenson fed Luke Fischer underneath for a dunk, Bentil missed a layup and Wilson grabbed the rebound to set up his game-winner.Providence called time out with 24 seconds left and ran the clock down, but became frantic trying to get the ball to Dunn in the closing seconds. He tried to drive, then pulled up but couldn’t clear enough space to get off a shot.As the buzzer sounded, Cooley went onto the court to argue for a foul call, with no success.

TORONTO—For one half, Jimmy Butler was better than Michael Jordan.That’s all it was, Butler said. One half. Still, it was an amazing run.Butler broke the Hall of Famer’s team record for points in a half, scoring 40 of his 42 after the break to lead the Bulls over the Toronto Raptors 115-113 on Sunday.Jordan had 39, also in the second half, in a game against Milwaukee in 1989. Butler shot 14 of 19 in the final two quarters after a 1-for-4 start in the Bulls’ fourth straight win. ”Don’t compare me to him,” Butler said. ”I don’t want to be compared to him because then people are going to think I got to do what he did. I’m trying, but we’re nowhere near the same player.” One of Jordan’s teammates was pretty impressed, though. ”What a performance by (at)JimmyButler. You don’t see individual efforts like this too often,” Scottie Pippen said in a tweet. Butler’s performance came after he got stitches in his mouth. He was accidentally elbowed by DeMarre Carroll in the second quarter after making a basket. He needed one stitch to close the wound and ready him for the second half. ”I was mad but I just came out and was just aggressive,” he said. He scored 21 points in the third quarter, the most the Raptors have given up to an opponent in a single quarter this season, shooting 7 of 9 from the floor and making all seven of his free throw attempts.In the fourth, Butler put the Bulls in front with a 3-pointer from the corner with 30.9 seconds to go to give the Bulls their first lead since early in the second. A pair of free throws by Butler closed out the victory shortly afterward.His coach was in awe of Butler’s outing. ”I’ll say this: It’s the best performance I’ve seen coaching,” said Fred Hoiberg. The Bulls coach was also full of praise for the way his team responded in the second half, commenting that the four-game winning streak that his club is now on closed out ”a very important week for us.” Butler’s teammates were equally complimentary. ”It’s not just that he scored a lot of points, he did it in a very efficient way and he did it in a way that was critical for us to win the ballgame,” said Pau Gasol, who registered his 17th double-double of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds. While Raptors coach Dwane Casey said he tried everything to slow Butler down, he was also upset about being in front for the majority of the game and failing to close out the victory. The Raptors haven’t beaten the Bulls since Dec. 31st, 2013. ”We can’t give up 34 points in the fourth quarter,” he said. ”You have to put your foot down, put your foot on their neck and close it out. I thought we had control up to that point, but we just didn’t put our stamp on it in the fourth quarter defensively.” DeMar DeRozan, who led the Raptors with 24 points and made a season-high three 3-pointers, had a chance to win the game at the end with a 3-pointer, but his shot narrowly missed, hitting the rim and bouncing clear. ”I thought I had a good look at the end for the 3,” he said. ”I thought it was good.” Toronto guard Kyle Lowry earned his second straight double-double and fifth of the season with 22 points and a game-high 10 assists. Lowry is now averaging 8.7 assists over his last six games.Butler on the elbow from Carroll that required stitches: ”He didn’t do it on purpose but he messed my swagger up so I can’t go on a date for a while.”….Derrick Rose sat out his third straight game with a right hamstring injury, although Hoiberg said, ”it is definitely getting better.” Rose will undergo an MRI on Monday on the knee, the same knee he has previously had two surgeries on…..The Bulls are 17-3 when outrebounding their opponent. … The Bulls scored 100-plus points in seven straight games. … Butler’s streak of 40 games with at least one steal is the longest active streak in the NBA, and the longest of Butler’s career. NOTES—Raptors: The Raptors embark on a five-game road trip, which includes an NBA Global Game in London against the Orlando Magic on Jan. 1…The Bulls host Milwaukee on Tuesday night.

Corey Crawford and the defending champion Blackhawks can play some stingy defense, too.Crawford made 26 saves in his NHL-leading sixth shutout this season to lead the Blackhawks past the Ottawa Senators 3-0 on Sunday night for their third straight win.Duncan Keith and Artem Anisimov scored for the Blackhawks, which got an empty-net goal from Andrew Desjardins with 48 seconds left.Crawford wasn’t challenged consistently, but he was sharp when needed in earning his 18th career shutout in his 300th game. ”He was solid,” Joel Quenneville said. ”He wasn’t tested early, but sporadically they came at him. Certainly, he’s been doing a good job for us.” The skaters in front of Crawford stifled the Senators for much of the night, too. Loaded with skill on offense, the Blackhawks blocked 24 shots and got a little lucky as Ottawa fired wide 15 times – including a couple of strikes off the post and crossbar. ”That was important, to keep the puck away from those guys, get puck possession, because (the Senators) are a pretty fast and skilled team, good on the rush,” Crawford said. ”It was just a solid win for us at home.” Craig Anderson stopped 27 shots, but the Senators lost their third straight and fifth in their last six. Ottawa also was blanked for the second straight game, following a 3-0 loss at home to New Jersey on Wednesday. ”If we play the 60 minutes the right way and you get 12-14 chances like we did tonight, there’s not going to be many nights when guys aren’t finding a way to put one in,” Senators forward Bobby Ryan said. ”We’ve got to find a way out of the funk.” The Blackhawks, who have won six of eight, avenged a 4-3 overtime loss at Ottawa on Dec. 3.Crawford came up with the toughest save in the choppy, scoreless first period when he stopped Alex Chiasson’s point-blank deflection of Mika Zibanejad’s shot from the slot.Keith opened the scoring at 8:13 of the second on a screened drive from the left point that sailed past Anderson’s blocker with Marian Hossa and Jean-Gabriel Pageau jostling in front. ”They’ve got a lot of firepower on their team up front and guys who can join the play on the back end, so we wanted to make them play defense. I thought we did a good job of that,” Keith said. Crawford was alert – and made a handful of tough stops – to keep it scoreless. He robbed Max McCormick, who was wide open at the edge of the crease, with a quick blocker save with about 2 minutes left in the second.Anisimov swatted in a rebound at 6:01 of the second to extend the lead to 2-0. Anderson stopped Michal Rozsival’s shot from the left circle, but the puck rolled up Anderson’s chest, then dropped to the ice and right to Anisimov, who was open at the edge of the crease. ”You’re never going to limit that team,” Senators coach Dave Cameron said. ”There’s just too much talent there.But I think we did a real good job of not feeding the fire.” During the game, the Blackhawks announced they acquired Richard Panik from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Jeremy Morin in a swap of minor league forwards. Panik has 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in 33 games with the AHL Toronto Marlies, and Morin has 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in 28 games with Rockford of the AHL. NOTES—In a pregame video tribute, the Blackhawks honored NHL leading scorer Patrick Kane for his franchise-record 26-game point streak this season. His run, extending from Oct. 17 through Dec. 13, set a new mark for an American-born player. Neither Kane nor GM Stan Bowman, who presented the player with a gold puck, addressed the crowd of 22,016. . Kane has been held without a point only five times in 40 games this season. . The Blackhawks loaned D David Rundblad to the ZSC Lions of Switzerland’s National League. Rundblad had been assigned to Rockford of the AHL last week. . Ottawa’s healthy scratches were D Jared Cowen and F Dave Dziurzynski. Hawk’s were D Rob Scuderi and F Brandon Mashinter

The Bears finished a season in which they were 1-7 at Home and 1-5 vs the NFL North(only win at Green Bay Thanksgiving night).The Detroit Lions closed a losing season with a victory on Sunday as Matthew Stafford threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns and Calvin Johnson had 137 yards receiving in a 24-20 win over the Bears.Detroit (7-9) avoided a last-place finish in the NFC North with its sixth win in eight games. Whether the Lions bring back coach Jim Caldwell for a third season remains to be seen.He led them to a rare playoff appearance last year, but a 1-7 start put his future in doubt.Caldwell survived a midseason purge that saw offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi get fired and ownership drop the ax on president Tom Lewand and general manager Martin Mayhew the following week.The Lions intercepted Jay Cutler three times, and held on after the teams started trading scores in the second half. They took a 24-17 lead on Eric Ebron‘s 1-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.It was a four-point game when Detroit’s Glover Quin intercepted Cutler with just under two minutes remaining, and the Lions hung on from there.  The Bears (6-10) lost for the fourth time in five games and finished last in the division despite showing progress in its first season under coach John Fox and general manager Ryan Pace.Stafford, who got into a groove late in the year with Jim Bob Cooter as offensive coordinator, completed 28 of 39 passes without an interception. Johnson had 10 catches, including a lunging 36-yard touchdown grab.Matt Prater kicked a 59-yard field goal – the longest ever at Soldier Field. Cutler was 17 of 23 for 245 yards and two touchdowns with top receiver Alshon Jeffery on injured reserve and Eddie Royal out with an illness.Matt Forte had 76 yards rushing and 34 receiving in what could be his final game as a Bear, given his age (30) and expiring contract.Trailing 10-0 at halftime, the Bears tied it midway through the third when Cutler hit a leaping Josh Bellamy down the middle for a 34-yard touchdown.That started a run in which the teams combine to score on five possessions.The Lions briefly regained the lead when Johnson got behind Tracy Porter along the left sideline and lunged to snag a 36-yard touchdown from Stafford, making it 17-10 with just over a minute left in the quarter.The Bears tied it again early in the fourth on a 23-yard pass from Cutler to Forte. But Detroit’s Joique Bell turned a short pass into a 35-yard gain, helping set up a 1-yard TD reception Ebron. Robbie Gould then kicked a 34-yard field goal to make it 24-20 with 5:39 left.

EVANSTON—Melo Trimble scored 24 points, Rasheed Sulaimon added 16 points and No. 4 Maryland beat Northwestern 72-59 on Saturday night.Trimble scored 17 points in the second half. Sulaimon had 13 in the first, helping the Terrapins (13-1, 2-0 Big Ten) grab a 40-20 lead on the way to their seventh straight victory.They also gave coach Mark Turgeon his 100th victory in five seasons at Maryland and snapped a 10-game winning streak for Northwestern (13-2, 1-1).Sulaimon was 6 of 9 from the field and 4 of 6 on 3-pointers. Trimble hit five 3s – four in the second half – to go with eight rebounds and eight assists.Bryant McIntosh led the Wildcats with 17 points. But NU shot just 37.3 percent and was 2 of 20 on 3-pointers.Diamond Stone scored 10 points after setting a setting a Maryland freshman record with 39 points against Penn State on Wednesday, and the Terrapins made it look easy against an opponent that came in on a big roll.The only other double-digit win streak for Northwestern was a 12-game run by the 1930-31 team.Whether they were beating defenders off the dribble or with quick passes, the Terrapins wasted little time ripping the suspense out of this one.They were up 20 at halftime after shooting 50 percent, with Sulaimon leading the way. The senior hit all five field goals, nailing three 3-pointers.Northwestern shot just 8 of 25 – 1 of 8 on 3s – in the half.Maryland was already leading by 11 when Stone threw down a put-back dunk off a missed layup by Jake Layman. Trimble, who missed 6 of 7 3s in the half, buried one. And Sulaimon wrapped two more 3s around a dunk by Northwestern’s Joey van Zegeren as Maryland bumped the lead to 36-16 with 2:22 left.

NOTES—The Terrapins’ only loss was to North Carolina on Dec. 1. The Wildcats’ only other loss was also to North Carolina on Nov. 23….NU hosts Ohio State on Wednesday night.

VALPARAISO—Keith Carter scored 15 points with four assists, three rebounds and three steals as Valparaiso rolled to 75-47 win over UIC on Saturday.Shane Hammink added 13 points off the bench for the Crusaders (11-3, 1-0 Horizon). Alec Peters scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Darien Walker chipped in 11 points. The team averaged 46.3 percent shooting from the field, 70.8 percent from the line and had a 43-34 rebounding edge over UIC.Valparaiso scored the game’s first bucket – a layup by Peters two minutes in – and never trailed, building a 37-20 lead by halftime.Carter sank a 3-pointer to cap a 12-2 surge that extended Valpo’s lead to 69-42 with 4:13 to play.Lance Whitaker scored eight points with three assists and three rebounds for the Flames (2-10, 0-1) who averaged just 30.5 percent shooting from the field.

NEWARK—Isaiah Whitehead had 18 points and nine assists and Seton Hall edged DePaul 78-74 on Saturday for the Pirates’ seventh consecutive victory.Leading 76-73 after Khadeen Carrington’s basket with 1:26 to go, the Pirates (12-2, 2-0 Big East) missed four free throws. DePaul’s Billy Garrett Jr. was fouled on a 3-point attempt with a second left, but missed the first free throw, made the second and missed the rim on the third trying to create a rebound. Whitehead was fouled and made two from the line to end the game.Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado turned in his seventh straight double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Carrington added 14 points.Garrett led the Blue Demons (6-8, 0-2) with 20 points and eight assists. Myke Henry had 15 points and nine rebounds. Rashaun Stimage added 15 points.Seton Hall had an eight-point lead with 9:23 to go. DePaul cut it to one twice.

TERRE HAUTE—Devonte Brown scored 20 points, Khristian Smith had 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Indiana State pulled away in the second half en route to a 73-58 win over Loyola on Saturday.Brenton Scott had 11 points, and Matt Van Scyoc and Brandon Murphy each added 10 as Indiana State (7-7, 1-1) won for the fourth time in five games. Smith’s layup with 9:35 left in the first half gave the senior guard 1,000 career points.Montel James had 16 points for Loyola (7-7, 0-2), Devon Turk added 13 and Earl Peterson 12.Leading by two at halftime, the Sycamores made their first seven field goal attempts out of the break to take a 52-40 lead with 11:06 to play. Brown went 3 of 4 from the field and 9 of 9 on free throws in the second half to score 15 of his 20 points.