NBA - Bulls upset Pistons for first win

Standings

CHICAGO (NBA) - Luol Deng, Tyrus Thomas and the Chicago Bulls hope a few more games like this will help calm the Kobe Bryant trade rumours.

Thomas scored 19 points and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and British international Deng added 17 points as the Bulls notched their first win of the season with a 97-93 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday.

Ben Gordon scored 16 points and Kirk Hinrich dished out 14 assists for the Bulls, who had five players score in double figures.

"We finally played a complete game," said Deng, whose performances this summer fired Britain into EuroBasket Division A, giving them a chance to qualify for the finals in 2009.
"When they made runs out there, we kept answering them. This is our first win, so we can go from here."
Chicago, who started 0-4 for the first time since 2004-05, managed to hold off Detroit despite being held without a field goal in the final four minutes.

Deng, who has been mentioned as trade bait in a potential deal for Bryant, hit a jumper that put the Bulls up 94-89 with 4:04 left in the fourth. That proved to be the difference.

Deng and Thomas spoiled a huge night from Rasheed Wallace, who carried the Pistons, scoring 36 points on 12-of-24 shooting with nine rebounds but missed a pair of crucial shots down the stretch. Wallace, who scored 14 points in the third quarter to help the Pistons stay in the game, was not as good down the stretch - misfiring on his final two shot attempts.

The first was a potential go-ahead jumper that would have put Detroit up by one point with 33 seconds left, and the second would have tied the game with 15 seconds to play.

Joe Smith, who scored 13 points off the bench, hit one of two free throws and Thomas added another to seal the win. Chicago's bench was also a big reason for the win as it outscored Detroit's reserves, 31-13.

Richard Jefferson scored 25 points and sank a pair of crucial free throws with 24 seconds left as the New Jersey Nets rallied from a 20-point deficit for an 87-85 victory over the winless Washington Wizards.

Vince Carter added 24 points for the Nets, who have won three straight since an embarrassing 106-69 loss to the Toronto Raptors at home last Friday.

Jason Terry scored 24 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 22 to power the Dallas Mavericks past the Golden State Warriors 120-115.

Last season, the Warriors became the first eighth seed to defeat a number one seed in a seven-game play-off series when they toppled the powerhouse Mavericks in six games. Dallas, who posted a league-best 67 wins, seemed destined to play in the NBA Finals until they were upset by the underdog Warriors.

The Mavericks appeared to play with that knowledge, continuing to keep Golden State at bay when they needed to as the Warriors were unable to ever take a lead in the fourth quarter despite never leading by more than five points in this one.

Trailing 118-115 with seven seconds remaining, Baron Davis freed himself and attempted a wide-open, potential game-tying three-pointer that came up just short. Devin Harris collected the rebound and was fouled immediately by Al Harrington.

Harris hit both free throws to account for the final margin, which was symbolic of the entire game.

The Mavericks hit 26-of-30 attempts from the free-throw line while the Warriors were able to convert just 16-of-30.

The win was just Dallas' third victory in its last 12 games against Golden State, breaking a five-game regular-season losing streak against the Warriors.

Davis scored 37 points and Kelenna Azubuike added 27 to go along with a career-high 11 rebounds for the Warriors, who lost five games in a row to open the season for the second time in the last four seasons.

FIBA