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Michael Jordan spins baseline and gets the incredible shooter's roll.
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Game Flow

CHICAGO -- Michael Jordan scored 37 points in three quarters and Scottie Pippen added 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds as the Chicago Bulls rolled to their seventh straight victory, 116-89 over the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday.

Michael Jordan poured in a game-high 37 points against the Blazers.

Jordan, who shot 13-of-27 from the field in 30 minutes, had more points than minutes played for the second straight game. He scored 34 in 31 minutes Saturday against Golden State.

"Michael has been in a total zone as of late, and my shot has been falling as well," Pippen said. "I didn't want to show up the other team. I wanted to stay within the team concept. The game was already won, so why worry about the numbers (for a triple-double)?"

Jordan scored 16 points in the first quarter, then added 14 in the final 3:23 of the second quarter, helping Chicago open a 67-49 lead. He scored seven more in the opening 8:11 of the third period as the Bulls built a 30-point advantage and cruised to their 19th straight home win.

"I don't know if we can play much better than we are right now," Pippen said. "Every shot we take is falling. Everything's just going perfect for us."

Chicago has beaten Portland five straight times and improved to 49-6 this season, one win short of their record-setting pace of last season.

Gary Trent had 14 points and nine rebounds and Stacey Augmon and Marcus Brown added 13 points apiece for the Trail Blazers, who went 1-3 on their four-game road trip. Portland was without guard Isaiah Rider, who had a death in his family.

"The Bulls played really well and we didn't," Blazers coach P.J. Carlesimo said. "We were a step slower all night. I thought the Bulls beat us badly on the boards especially. We missed Isaiah tonight, but Michael still put up big numbers on him last time as well."

Jordan's big first quarter gave Chicago a 32-26 lead.

Rasheed Wallace's three-point play pulled Portland within three points but Toni Kukoc scored four points in an 11-3 spurt that built the lead to 43-32 with 8:09 remaining in the second quarter.

Bulls forward Dennis Rodman tangled with Blazers center Chris Dudley and received a technical foul with 4:11 left in the half. A free throw by Arvydas Sabonis cut the deficit to 50-37 before the Bulls went on a 10-3 run. Jordan scored the last seven in the run, then Chicago's last seven of the half, pushing the lead to 18 points.

"I thought that was a terrific exhibition on our part in the first half," Bulls coach Phil Jackson said. "Michael was taking advantage of some obvious mismatches and we rode the wave."

A basket by Augmon made it 69-51 with 10:02 left in the third quarter before the Bulls began another 18-6 burst. Pippen had seven and Jordan five, including an eight-footer that made it 87-57 with 3:49 to go.

"It wasn't too much of them tonight. It was not enough of us," Trent said. "Actually, we're not playing good team basketball right now, especially on defense."

Kukoc scored 13 points and Rodman grabbed 15 rebounds for the Bulls, who shot 46.5 percent (46 of 99) from the field and held a 60-40 rebounding advantage.

Sabonis and Kenny Anderson scored 12 points each for Portland, which shot 43 percent (35 of 82) but hit only 4 of 21 from beyond the arc.