No freebie on this night as Bulls beat Kings 99-94
The Bulls were enjoying the best night in franchise history at the foul line.
With just over a minute remaining against Sacramento, they were a perfect 29-for-29 on free throws, well ahead of the previous team record of 25-for-25 set on Feb. 9, 1977 during a game at Houston.
But then Larry Hughes missed to end the perfect night. Drew Gooden misfired once, then twice and all of a sudden, the Bulls were in grave danger against a Kings squad that had lost 11 straight road games.
The home team caught a break, though, when Bulls nemesis Kevin Martin missed an open look from 19 feet that could have tied the score with about 10 seconds left, helping the Bulls escape with a 99-94 victory on Tuesday at the United Center.
"It was an ugly win, but we got it done," said Gooden, playing for the first time since Dec. 19 because of a sprained right ankle. "We made a lot of mistakes in the fourth quarter."
Martin's missed jumper came after teammate Brad Miller pulled in one of Sacramento's errant free throws. Gooden grabbed the next rebound and hit 1 of 2 at the line to put the Bulls up by 3 with 9.1 seconds left.
On the ensuing possession, Martin (29 points) decided to take it to the basket, but missed a driving layup attempt against Thabo Sefolosha, whose 2 free throws sealed the win.
"This loss had nothing to do with them," Martin said. "It was all us tonight."
The Bulls won despite shooting 38.6 percent from the field - their third straight game under 40 percent - compared to the Kings' 50.7. Free throws were a big difference, with the Bulls finishing the night 33-for-36 at the line. They also held a commanding 20-4 edge in second-chance points.
So even though this can be classified as an ugly win over a struggling opponent, the Bulls were very happy to snap a three-game losing streak. They had lost six of their last seven, including last Saturday against lowly Minnesota.
"Sometimes you need a little luck to go your way," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We still don't have our energy. We're not as crisp and that has to get better."
Ben Gordon led the Bulls (15-20) with 24 points by hitting all 11 of his free throws. Derrick Rose drove to the basket well, finishing with 16 points and 8 assists. Gooden finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while managing to play just under 33 minutes in his comeback game.
"I was this close to telling coach to come get me," he said. "But I knew the timeout was coming, so I just sucked it up for another minute and got my wind back on the bench. But I felt good out there."
The Bulls never trailed in the second half and seemed to have the game in hand a few times, especially when they led 84-73 with 8:18 remaining. Then they went cold and Sacramento (8-28) fought back within 90-89 when Francisco Garcia stole the ball from Rose and finished a fastbreak lay in with 1:56 left.
Gordon got fouled and nailed both free throws to make it 92-89. After Garcia missed a jumper, Hughes hit the first of 2 foul shots, then tossed up the Bulls' first miss of the night to keep the lead at 4 points with 1:01 remaining.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=262631">Del Negro doesn't mind fans booing <span class="date"> [1/6/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>