For Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks, something didn’t seem right at the Wachovia Center Wednesday night.
And after an 88-87 loss to the Bulls, he was visibly agitated and accused the Bulls–Scott Skiles, in particular–of using voodoo to pull out the unlikely win.
“How else can you explain it?” Cheeks said. “They commit 15 turnovers and shoot 40 percent from the free throw line and still win?
Something’s not right here. Good teams can pull out wins like that, but the Bulls aren’t a good team. [Skiles] had to be conjuring up some kind of evil to hex us.”
When Skiles, who has been accused of evil sorcery in the past, was directly asked about his use of voodoo to help his team win, he merely smiled and replied with, “No comment.”
But despite their poor play and post-game accusations, the Bulls were in high spirits. And why shouldn’t they be? They came back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter and won their fourth straight game on a Kirk Hinrich jumper in the final 30 seconds.
Ben Wallace posted his third double-double in as many games, with 10 points, 11 rebounds and tied his career high with 8 assists. Luol Deng led the team in scoring with 20 points, and sparked the late rally that eventually won the game.
The NBA said there would be no investigation into Skiles’ alleged use of voodoo.
“Hell no,” NBA commissioner David Stern said. “Until now, Skiles has just called me a jackass, which I can handle. I deal with the verbal abuse every day. But there’s no way I’m risking him actually turning me into one. That guy is one evil S.O.B.”
Number of the game: 11
Games the Bulls are over .500, a season-high. Since the All-Star Break they’ve gone 10-3 and won five of seven road games. Shame on you, Chicago Bulls! It’s highly irresponsible to be giving fans false hope for anything past the first round of the playoffs.
