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Martin nails clutch jumper as Kings stun Bulls

Nov 4, 2006 - 4:46 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Mike Bibby's biggest assist wasn't the one that put him in the record book.

Bibby found a wide-open Kevin Martin, who nailed the go-ahead jumper with 6.4 seconds left as the Sacramento Kings rallied for a stunning 89-88 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

Martin scored 30 points, Bibby added 23 and nine assists and Ron Artest contributed 22 and 13 rebounds for the Kings, who have beaten the Bulls in 14 of their last 15 meetings. Sacramento erased a five-point deficit in the final minute.

"I was going to shoot it and then when I drove I saw Ben (Wallace) in there and some other big guys, so I thought I would just try to make it look like I was going to shoot it," Bibby said. "At that point I was just hoping somebody would be open that I could find, and Kevin hit a big shot."

"Obviously that was game we should have won," Chicago coach Scott Skiles said. "We played a poor game all the way around. We were just unable to close it out."

Bibby, who is playing despite a tendon injury in his hand and committed 11 turnovers, entered the contest seven assists shy of the Sacramento record of 2,128 held by Mitch Richmond. Bibby eclipsed Richmond's total with an inbounds pass that led to a layup by Martin with 7:01 to go.

But the magnitude of that play was nowhere near the level of Bibby's next assist to Martin.

Bibby drilled a tough 3-pointer from the left corner with 14 ticks remaining, drawing Sacramento within 88-87. After Chris Duhon's inbounds pass to Luol Deng went out of bounds, Bibby had one more chance on the other end with 13 seconds left.

Instead of pulling up for a contested jumper against Kirk Hinrich, Bibby made a crossover dribble, headed into the lane and found Martin open in the left corner. The third-year guard buried the shot and silenced the United Center.

"Mike did a great job of taking it to the lane and then dishing it off to me," Martin said.

"We started making that extra pass," Sacramento coach Eric Musselman said. "We told the guys at halftime that if we don't move the ball, we won't beat anyone."

On Chicago's last opportunity to pull it out, Duhon dribbled the ball off his foot and Kings forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim picked up the loose ball to secure the win.

"I was just trying to get it to Luol and I just overthrew it," Duhon said.

Bulls guard Ben Gordon, who had just five points, was on the bench on the last play despite having a history of making big shots in the clutch.

"Yeah. But it shouldn't have come down to that," said Gordon, who would have liked to been on the floor. "We had this game and didn't put it away."

Deng scored 29 points and Hinrich added 15 and six assists for the Bulls, who were victimized by 23 turnovers.

"I don't know what to say but we absolutely gave this game away," Hinrich said. "They made some shots but we made far too many mistakes. We should not have lost the game."

The Kings erased a 15-point third-quarter deficit by outscoring the Bulls, 28-13, in the final nine minutes, forging a 62-62 tie.