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Redd's 27 help Bucks defeat struggling Bulls

Nov 4, 2007 - 3:23 AM MILWAUKEE (Ticker) -- Michael Redd continued his outstanding play against the struggling Chicago Bulls.

Redd scored 27 points, grabbed nine rebounds and handed out five assists as the Milwaukee Bucks posted a 78-72 victory over the Bulls on Saturday.

Rookie Yi Jianlian scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Milwaukee, which hadn't started a season with three straight losses since dropping a franchise record five in a row in 1976-77.

Milwaukee, which was celebrating the 40th anniversary of its existence here, helped Chicago to a surprising third loss in a row to start the campaign.

"I'm not surprised we started the season 0-3," said Bulls center Ben Wallace, who collected five points and two rebounds. "We had opportunities to win all three games but just didn't take advantage of them."

Considered a favorite to win the Eastern Conference, the Bulls have failed to pick up a win with rumors of trading for Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant looming over the franchise.

"We have a propensity to stumble around in some games and turnovers have been happening all the time in these three games," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "There has to be a time where you bring it as a professional every night."

Redd, who connected on 8-of-24 shots from the floor, averaged 38.0 points in four contests against Chicago last season. Included in those games was a 52-point effort - lifting the Bucks, who had lost all four of those matchups with the Bulls in 2006-07.

"Tonight was a grind," Redd said. "The Bulls are a terrific defensive team, but we did a great job of battling and locked down when we had to."

However, it was a different story for Milwaukee on Saturday.

Redd, who scored 12 points in the third quarter, started a 19-6 run with a jumper at the 9:55 mark. The burst was capped by a dunk by Yi with 1:32 left, giving the Bucks a 51-43 advantage.

"(Yi) is full of energy, like a young colt running around out there," Bucks coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "He hit some big shots for us, certainly big for his confidence and good for our team."

Yi scored eight points in the period.

After Andres Nocioni hit a jumper with two minutes left to cut the Bulls' deficit to 75-70, Charlie Bell made one of two from the free-throw line with 11 seconds left to give the Bucks a six-point advantage.

"You could see, when somebody got beat, the other guys picked it up," Bell said. "There was no way we wanted to lose this game."

After a basket by Luol Deng, who battled foul trouble throughout the night, cut Chicago's deficit to four with nine seconds left, Redd drilled two fouls shots with two ticks on the clock to provide the final margin.

"It's very frustrating, I tried to come out aggressive tonight and got into early foul trouble," said Deng, who scored just eight points. "The last two games I've really struggled with my shot."

Ben Gordon scored 16 points and reserve Joe Smith added 14 and 10 boards for Chicago, which is winless in three games.