Jazz Put End To Run Of The Bulls

The Bulls’ unbeaten start is history, and some of the blame falls on Dennis Rodman.

Chicago finally lost its first game of the season Saturday night as the Utah Jazz took advantage of some poor late shooting and a technical foul on Rodman for a 105-100 win.

Basketball’s bad boy was ejected with 13.9 seconds left after pushing Jeff Hornacek, and Utah finished off the Bulls at the foul line before a crowd of 19,911 at the Delta Center.

“It’s one damn loss, that’s all,” an unrepentant Rodman said after the Bulls lost for the first time in 13 games. “I wasn’t really interested in the game. I didn’t have my game face on. Karl Malone had 37 points - that shows you how interested I was.”

Malone actually scored 36 points to offset 44 from Michael Jordan, who missed several key baskets down the stretch as the Bulls suddenly went cold from the field.

“I shot up some bricks in the last few minutes,” Jordan said. “We had our chance to win on the road and we missed the shots.”

Malone’s jumper with 29 seconds left gave Utah a lead it never relinquished, and the Jazz scored their last five points at the free-throw line, aided in part by the technical that got Rodman kicked out of the game.

Chicago was attempting to break the NBA record of 15 straight wins to open a season last set by the Houston Rockets in 1991.

“It was a good run, and now we start another one,” Jordan said.

Rodman, who was a non-factor through much of the game, got a technical foul late in the third quarter for arguing with referee Bennett Salvatore, then got a much more costly one with the Bulls trailing by two points with 13.9 seconds left.

Hornacek rebounded a missed 3-point attempt by Jordan and was fouled by Rodman, who then gave Hornacek an extra shove and was assessed a second technical.

In other games:

Anthony Mason scored eight of his 18 points in the final 4:44 and Charlotte capitalized on the absence of Grant Hill for a 93-85 victory over Detroit in Charlotte. Detroit played the final three quarters without Hill, who landed on his right wrist after being fouled by Matt Geiger with 38 seconds left in the first period.

Gary Trent came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points as Portland crushed Denver 105-65 in Portland, holding the Nuggets to the lowest point total in franchise history.

Robert Pack had a career-high 22 assists and 17 points, and New Jersey gave John Calipari a laugher in beating visiting Dallas 114-91.

The visiting Orlando Magic held the Indiana Pacers without a field goal over the final 9 minutes and used a late run to gain a 76-73 victory.