Bulls use 19-5 run to secure victory

Michael Jordan cans the 18-foot jumper in Ray Allen's face.
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Game flow

MILWAUKEE -- Michael Jordan scored 40 points, including 10 in the final quarter, and Jason Caffey keyed a pivotal fourth-quarter run with six points as the Chicago Bulls defeated the Milwaukee Bucks for the fifth consecutive time, 107-104.

Jordan recorded his 148th career game of 40-plus points and has been the Bulls' leading scorer in 15 of 17 games this season. He had a big fourth quarter as the Bulls used a 19-5 run to turn an 80-80 tie into a 14-point lead with four minutes to play.

Caffey sparked the run by opening the quarter with a dunk and had the first six points of the period for Chicago. Scottie Pippen and Toni Kukoc had layups and Jordan had a pair of free throws for an 92-81 lead with 7:24 left. After a timeout, Jordan and Kukoc hit jump shots and Steve Kerr capped the run with a 3-pointer.

"The Bucks came out and played hard," Jordan said. "Milwaukee has shown that they are improved. I think that our bench came in and executed our offense very well. We had some hard battles on the road."

Kukoc added 14 points and Caffey 12, both off the bench, as the Bulls won for the 16th time in 17 games this season. Chicago completed its seven-game road trip 6-1.

"I think that Milwaukee is a good team," Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. "I belive that they are better than they played tonight. We did what we wanted to do on our recent road trip. This was the one of the more difficult games we had on the trip. We're ahead of the game and ahead of the pack as opposed to last season."

Glenn Robinson led Milwaukee with 21 points and Sherman Douglas and Vin Baker had 20 apiece. The Bucks, who rallied late, became just the third team to score more than 100 points against the Bulls this season.

"We are very disappointed," Baker said. "We honestly feel that we should have won this game. We played hard, but we didn't rebound like what we need to. The turnovers really hurt us. They're a great basketball team. In the fourth quarter they came out at us very aggressively. We went into a drought, we weren't as aggressive in the final quarter. We were flat and had too many turnovers."

"We had our moments tonight, but we just couldn't sustain them," Bucks coach Chris Ford said. "Turnovers really hurt us throughout the game and you only get so many chances with the Bulls. We had a little run and got the fans excited at the end of the third quarter."

Jordan had 11 in the opening quarter as the Bulls raced to an early 12-8 lead and led 26-23 after one. An 8-2 run to start the second quarter extended the lead to 34-25 and Chicago held a 53-49 halftime advantage.

Dennis Rodman had 12 rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals but the Bucks held a 40-30 advantage on the boards. But Milwaukee committed 22 turnovers and made just 5-of-13 3-point attempts.