Final
Wallace, Okafor help Bobcats end skid, defeat Bulls
Feb 15, 2007 - 4:26 AM CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- When the Charlotte Bobcats play well, Gerald Wallace handles things on offense while Emeka Okafor holds down the defense.Wallace scored 32 points and Okafor grabbed 21 rebounds and had six blocks as the Bobcats posted a 100-85 victory over the Chicago Bulls.
Matt Carroll had 17 points and Raymond Felton added 16 points and nine assists for Charlotte, which snapped a season high-tying four-game losing streak.
"It was a nice win," Wallace said. "No one wants to have a five-game losing streak heading into the All-Star break."
Wallace, who was scoreless as Charlotte trailed, 29-24, after the first quarter, scored 11 in the second and 12 in the third for the Bobcats, who took a 75-65 lead entering the final period.
Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff was happy with the results heading into the All-Star Game break.
"We were pretty good tonight," Bickerstaff said. "We did all the right things, all the hustle things, and we shared the ball. I think it's good. Hopefully we can get healthy so that we can come back after the break and get busy."
Okafor finished with 15 points for his 32nd double-double of the season. It was his third 20-plus rebound effort this season.
"We did a pretty good job tonight," Okafor said. "Everybody contributed, especially on defense, and with everyone helping out we got the win."
"Okafor gave us problems all night long," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "Most of the time a blocked shot leads to an easy basket and they did that all game."
The Bobcats shot 49 percent (36-of-74) from the field, including 8-of-16 from 3-point range.
Ben Gordon scored 20 points and Luol Deng had 19 for the Bulls, who have dropped eight of 12 on the road and six of nine overall.
"We didn't play with a lot of energy," Deng said. "We really tried to find our offense and our defense wasn't where it was supposed to be. We just didn't give ourselves a chance to win the game."
P.J. Brown had 12 points and Kirk Hinrich added 11 for Chicago, which shot just 38 percent (33-of-86) and lost for just the third time in 10 meetings with Charlotte.
"It's definitely an embarrassing effort and an embarrassing loss," Skiles said. "We were a step slow and after we hung in there for a little while, they just wore us down and we could never get anything going."
- NBA
CHICAGO 85
CHARLOTTE 100 FINAL
Feb 14 9:24 PM - NBA
CHICAGO 65
CHARLOTTE 75 END, 3RD QTR
Feb 14 8:48 PM - NBA
CHICAGO 45
CHARLOTTE 49 HALFTIME
Feb 14 8:07 PM - NBA
CHICAGO 29
CHARLOTTE 24 END, 1ST QTR
Feb 14 7:35 PM
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