The Chicago Bulls defeated the New York Knicks 90-84 in stunning comeback fashion.

The Bulls trailed the Knicks 81-71 with 4:59 remaining in the ball game, and appeared to be on their way to another loss, this time at the hands of the winless Knicks.

Instead of laying down and losing, the Bulls fought back. James Augustine tipped in a missed three by Brandon Costner to make it an 81-73 game. Then Demarcus Nelson made it an 81-76 game, after making a layup and getting fouled. Anthony Roberson then made it a 3 point game on a fastbreak layup of his own.

The Bulls would finally tie the game on a reverse layup by James Johnson, in which he drove past Jordan Hill.

The very next play, James Johnson blocked a three point attemt by Morris Almond. The Bulls recovered, and Roberson pulled up for a quick three, which bounced to the left hard, but Johnson made a great hustle play, saving the ball from going out of bounds, giving the Bulls another chance, which they capitalized on, as Costner hit a three to give the Bulls an 86-83 lead. The Bulls never relinquished the lead from that point.

James Johnson started off the game poorly, missing his first 9 shots, bringing back memories of Tyrus Thomas’ 2-17 night in Boston last season. However, Johnson pulled himself together, finishing with 20 points on 6-17 shooting, 6 rebounds, 3 assist, and 2 blocks.

Johnson was able to salvage this game, while Tyrus was not in Boston, because Johnson decided to start driving the ball once he realized that his jumpshot was off. The Knicks had difficulty stopping Johnson when he was driving to the basket.

Johnson was involved in a variety of highlight reel plays tonight, including throwing alley oop passes, and capping off an alley oop of his own.

Brandon Costner was impressive tonight, scoring 21 points off the bench. Costner is a big guy that can shoot, going 3-5 from three point territory. He didn’t do much else, but his shooting was impresive.

James Augustine had another solid night, scoring 8 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Anthony Roberson scored 12 points on 5-11 shooting, and Demarcus Nelson scored 15 points.

Nikoloz Tskitishvili, a famous draft bust, played in this game for the Knicks. He put up 14 points and 7 rebounds. He did okay today, but there is no way with his flimsy body that he could do anything against actual NBA competition.

Jordan Hill, the first round draft pick of the Knicks, finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds. He looks like a solid player. Not overly skilled, but he has a small set of post moves, which he is somewhat effective with because of his good athleticism.

Morris Almond also scored 16 points for the Knicks, Ron Howard added in 11 points, and Joe Crawford added in 10 points.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 2-2 in Las Vegas Summer League action.

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Tags: Anthony Roberson, Brandon Costner, Chicago Bulls, DeMarcus Nelson, James Augustine, James Johnson, Joe Crawford, Jordan Hill, Morris Almond, New York Knicks, Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Ron Howard, Tyrus Thomas

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 18th, 2009 at 6:19 pm and is filed under Game Recap, Summer League. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.