• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Butler, Wizards run past Bulls

Jan 11, 2007 - 4:53 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Caron Butler showed his Washington Wizards teammates that they could win without Gilbert Arenas having a huge night.

Butler tied a season high with 26 points and Arenas contributed 20 as the Wizards posted a 113-103 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

Antawn Jamison had 18 points and nine rebounds and reserve Antonio Daniels added 15 for Washington, which has won seven straight at home and improved to 14-3 here.

"Daniels played great tonight," Arenas said. "He managed the game and ran the floor great tonight."

Arenas, who had scored at least 30 points in eight of his last nine games, was held to 5-of-16 shooting from the floor, but was bailed out by Butler, who made 14-of-17 free throws to go along with 10 rebounds and seven assists. It was Butler's 14th double-double of the season.

"Butler's having a good year," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "He's scoring and rebounding the ball. He's a good spot shooter and he mixes in his drives. He's a good all-around player."

Washington, the second-highest scoring team in the NBA, has scored 100 points or more in 18 straight games.

"We executed, read the defense and scored," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. We kept our composure and forced 20 turnovers. That's our game and thats our formula."

Kirk Hinrich scored a season-high 33 points and Ben Gordon added 25 points off the bench for Chicago, which has lost four of its last five games and fell to 1-10 in its last 11 at Verizon Center.

"My mind-set was just to basically stay aggressive," Hinrich said. "I tried to play like I was on the playground or in a pickup game, just aggressive and looking for all my opportunities to score. As of late, I haven't done that. I've just been kind of taking what's been given to me instead of being on the attack mode and trying to make plays."

Andres Nocioni added 20 points and Ben Wallace hauled in 16 rebounds for the Bulls, who shot 42 percent (32-of-76) in falling to 5-12 on the road.

"We played in spurts," Wallace said. "We put ourselves in a bad way and then had to fight to get out. We then relaxed a little bit and allowed them to take control of the game. I thought we played hard but we played the Wizards style of basketball. We didn't force them to play our style of basketball."