Wizards’ McGee puts on a block party

Washington center JaVale McGee may have been robbed at the slam dunk contest, but he earned a place in the Bulls’ record books Tuesday during the Bulls’ 98-78 win at the United Center.

His 12 blocks were the most ever by a Bulls opponent in a regulation game. The overall record of 13 was set in overtime by Houston’s Ralph Sampson on Dec. 9, 1983.

“I felt like I was in the right position tonight,” McGee said. “I was jut trying to stay on my feet as much as I could.”

McGee also finished with a triple-double, adding 12 rebounds and 11 points to his blocked shots.

“He’s big. You’ve always got to look for him,” Derrick Rose said.

McGee grew up in Detroit, but spent his senior year of high school at Hales Franciscan in Chicago. His father is former Illinois forward George Montgomery.

Scal goes cold:

Brian Scalabrine made a smooth transition from fan favorite in Boston to fan favorite in Chicago. But he’s struggled with one aspect of his new environment.

“It’s cold as heck out here,” Scalabrine said. “I don’t even really go outside.”

Hang on a second. Scalabrine grew up near Seattle and went to college at USC, but his previous NBA stops were New Jersey and Boston. He thinks Chicago is too cold?

“(In Boston) you’d get that weather come up from the south and it would be like 55 and rainy in the middle of January,” he said. “That would last like two days and then it would creep back down. Here it was 10, 12, 10, 15, 19, 10, 12, then 8 and 6. Those are tough, man. No question, that was the hardest thing I’ve had to do.”

Thomas connects:

Bulls veteran center Kurt Thomas finished the first half with a 3-point basket at the buzzer. The Bulls inbounded the ball with 1.1 seconds on the clock and went right to Thomas.

It was his first 3-point basket since the 2004-05 season when he played for New York. Thomas also grabbed 15 rebounds Tuesday, starting in place of Carlos Boozer for the third straight game.