Fourth-quarter rally lifts Magic past Bulls

Chicago, IL (Basketball News) - Jameer Nelson scored 24 points and Hedo Turkoglu had 15 points and six boards to lead the suddenly hot Orlando Magic over the Chicago Bulls, 97-93, at the United Center.

Turkoglu and Darko Milicic, who had 12 points and eight boards, sparked a key 17-2 fourth-quarter run for Orlando, which has won four straight to move five games behind the eighth-place Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference playoff race with 11 games to play.

"That’s two in a row on the road after 16 straight losses," Orlando head coach Brian Hill said. "This season is not over until after game 82. That eighth spot is anybody’s and is up for grabs now."

Keyon Dooling added 15 points and Carlos Arroyo had 13 points for the Magic, who rallied from an 11-point fourth-quarter deficit to end a five-game slide to the Bulls.

Andres Nocioni had a career-high 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Chicago, which had a two-game win streak halted and fell two games behind the Sixers for the final playoff spot.

"It did not look like we stepped up with confidence to shoot the ball," Chicago head coach Scott Skiles said. "We became very hesitant. Then we missed free throws and it started snowballing."

Chicago led for virtually the entire contest, trailing only once in the first quarter 4-3, and found itself ahead 84-73 early in the fourth quarter. However, that’s when things started to go down hill.

Orlando went on a 17-2 run to forge ahead and never looked back. Milicic had six points during the surge, which was capped by a Dooling three-pointer with 1:26 left for a 90-86 edge. During the run, Turkoglu’s basket with 1:40 on the clock gave the Magic the lead for good, 87-86.

Chicago got within 90-89 on a Ben Gordon three with 52 seconds left, but Turkoglu extended the lead back to three points on Orlando’s next possession and two points were as close as the Bulls got the rest of the way.

Chicago went the first 11:08 of the quarter scoring just four points and Gordon’s trey ended a 10:15 span without a field goal for the club.

Kirk Hinrich ended with 14 points and 12 assists and Luol Deng also had 14 points for the Bulls, who led 33-27 after one quarter and 57-49 going into halftime. Gordon had 12 points for Chicago, which also led 82-73 after three quarters.

Game Notes

This was the start of a two-game road trip for the Magic, who improved to 8-29 as the visitor...Orlando shot 48 percent from the field...Chicago hit 42.4 percent of its shots...Magic last beat the Bulls on April 12, 2004, 93-84, in Chicago.