• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Gordon and Bulls end long skid vs. Mavericks

Jan 26, 2007 - 4:02 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- After being pushed around by the Dallas Mavericks, Ben Gordon and the Chicago Bulls decided to shove back.

Gordon scored 30 points and Luol Deng added 21 and nine rebounds as the Bulls posted a 96-85 victory over the Mavericks, whose eight-game winning streak came to an end.

Kirk Hinrich had 15 points and grabbed eight boards and P.J. Brown added 12 and nine for Chicago, which had lost seven straight and 16 of its last 17 to Dallas.

Gordon, who had just 12 points in a 94-86 win vs. Atlanta on Tuesday, shot 12-of-23 from the floor for Chicago, which bolted out to a 23-6 first quarter lead and never trailed in the game.

Ben Wallace hauled down 17 rebounds for the Bulls, who outrebounded the Mavericks, 59-45, and shot 43 percent (36-of-84).

Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points and collected 11 rebounds - his seventh straight double-double - for the Mavericks, who shot a season-low 31 percent (29-of-93).

Jerry Stackhouse had 16 points off the bench and Jason Terry added 12 and six assists for Dallas (35-9), which fell into a virtual first-place tie with Phoenix (34-8) for th best record in the NBA.

Josh Howard, who had averaged 26.8 points in his previous four games, was held to only nine on 4-of-20 shooting for the Mavericks, who suffered just their second loss in their last 23 games.