Bulls Beat Jazz 103-100 For Fourth Straight Victory

By ESPN

Nikola Mirotic is smiling again. The shots are falling. All the weightlifting work he did in the summer is paying off. The Chicago Bulls are winning.

That infamous practice fight is beginning to fade into the background.

Mirotic scored 29 points, Kris Dunn hit a clutch jumper with 22 seconds left and the Bulls beat the Utah Jazz 103-100 on Wednesday night for their fourth straight victory.

"I think right now, Niko has brought a confidence to this team," coach Fred Hoiberg said.

Mirotic made 11 of 18 shots from the field and grabbed nine rebounds in his best performance since he returned last week after missing the start of the season with facial fractures. The 6-foot-10 forward got hurt in a fight with teammate Bobby Portis, throwing the future of both players in question, but the Bulls are perfect since Mirotic returned to the court.

"We are enjoying playing the basketball together," Mirotic said. "You can see good chemistry. The guys on the bench, they are all yelling, they've been happy. So I think after (what) we all get through, this team deserves it."

Robin Lopez added 16 points for Chicago (7-20), and Dunn finished with 13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Portis scored each of his nine points in the fourth after he got off to a slow start.

Donovan Mitchell led Utah with 32 points on 15-for-26 shooting, but the Jazz (13-15) dropped their fourth straight game. Rodney Hood scored 15 points after missing the previous seven games with left ankle soreness.

"We've got to play better on the defensive end," coach Quin Snyder said. "We've been here before, as far as the ball not going in. We have to be more stingy. We didn't have that tonight."

Dunn was 6 for 18 from the field, but he made a couple of big plays down the stretch. He connected with 1:39 to go to make it 98-94 Bulls. After Mitchell responded with a driving layup, Dunn made a stepback jumper over Alec Burks to restore the Bulls' four-point advantage.

"I believe in my game," Dunn said. "The coaching staff believes in me, my teammates do. There's going to be times where there's going to be bad games, I understand that, but I am going to keep fighting."

Dunn, David Nwaba and Justin Holiday each missed a foul shot in the final seconds, giving Utah one more chance. But Mitchell missed a running 3-point try as time expired.

"I rushed it," Mitchell said. "I should have shot it with two hands, first of all. I should have shot it like a regular pull-up."

Ricky Rubio added 14 points for Utah, which has dropped the first two on a six-game road trip. Burks finished with 13 points.

"We can't do it in spurts," Hood said. "If we can't sustain it over 48 minutes, we're not going to win."

Utah trailed by as many 12 in the second quarter, but closed the half with a 17-6 run and kept up its solid play at the start of the third. Jonas Jerebko's reverse layup with 7:06 left gave the Jazz a 63-58 lead, leading to a timeout by the Bulls.

Thunder 100, Pacers 95

Paul George struggled on homecoming night.

He still left town with the crown.

On a night the four-time All-Star was repeatedly booed and couldn't seem to make a shot, he finally sunk two free throws with 10.7 seconds left Wednesday to seal Oklahoma City's 100-95 victory at Indiana.

"Yeah, I'm happy this circus is over with. Everybody can move on," George said. "I understood what the environment was going to be, so it wasn't a surprise."

Everything from finding the visiting locker room to dealing with the fans was different, and it seemed to take a toll.

George went 3 of 14 from the field, 2 of 7 on 3-pointers, had two rebounds and four turnovers. But spurned fans who are still upset George's camp went public with his free agent intentions last summer made sure the box score was the most pleasant part of George's night.

When first he walked onto the court for warmups, one fan shouted "traitor!" During player introductions, the boos reached a crescendo and every time he touched the ball, the boo-birds returned with full force. The only cheers came when George made a mistake or drew a foul.

Fortunately, George's friends helped him out.

Steven Adams finished with 23 points and 13 rebounds while reigning MVP Russell Westbrook recorded his ninth triple-double of the season -- 10 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists.

And when George came up with the final steal of the game, he pumped his arms and his teammates savored the moment as much as he did.

"I thought he had incredible poise tonight," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. "Everybody was asking how is he and I hadn't really noticed anything different. I thought his defense -- certainly on the side out of bounds play -- was really critical for us."

The trade for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis was widely panned as below market value, but has turned out pretty well so far for the Pacers.

Oladipo led Indiana with 19 points and nearly brought them all the way back from an 11-point deficit with 5:16 left. The Pacers got to 96-94 with 1:07 to go and had a chance to tie it when they got the ball with 15.2 seconds left and down 98-95.

Instead, George came up with the steal and made the free throws to seal the win, silence the crowd, end the Pacers' four-game winning streak and leave town as the king of the night.

"That team showed us that when you're playing against these elite teams, it's going to be a physical game and we didn't match that tonight," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said.

Wednesday, December 13 Scoreboard

Oklahoma City 100, Indiana 95

Los Angeles Clippers 106, Orlando 95

Washington 93,  Memphis 87

Bostdon 124, Denver 118

Portland 102, Miami 95

Chicago 103, Utah 100

New Orleans 115, Milwaukee 108

Toronto 115, Phoenix 109

Houston 108, Charlotte 96

Thursday, December 14 Schedule (All Times Central)

Detroit at  Atlanta, 6:30 p.m.

New York at Brooklyn, 6:30 p.m.

Los Angeles Lakers at Cleveland, 7 p.m.

Sacramento at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

Dallas at Golden State, 9:30 p.m.

Friday, December 15 Schedule (All Times Central)

Miami at Charlotte, 6 p.m.

Detroit at Indiana, 6 p.m.

Portland at Orlando, 6 p.m.

Oklahoma City at Philadelphia, 6 p.m.

Los Angeles Clippers at Washington, 6 p.m.

Utah at Boston, 6:30 p.m.

Brooklyn at Toronto, 6:30 p.m.

Atlanta at Memphis, 7 p.m.

Chicago at Milwaukee, 7 p.m.

New Orleans at Denver, 8 p.m.

San Antonio at Houston, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, December 16 Schedule (All Times Central)

Portland at Charlotte, 6 p.m.

Utah at Cleveland, 6:30 p.m.

Oklahoma City at New York, 6:30 p.m.

Los Angeles Clippers at Miami, 7 p.m.

Milwaukee at Houston, 7 p.m.

Phoenix at Minnesota, 7 p.m.

Dallas at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m.

Boston at Memphis, 8 p.m.

Sunday, December 17 Schedule (All Times Central)

Sacramento at Toronto, 2:30 p.m.

Orlando at Detroit, 3 p.m.

Indiana at Brooklyn, 5 p.m.

Cleveland at Washington, 5 p.m.