Morning Box Score

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 14, 2008 3:50PM

Crew Douses Fire
The Chicago Fire's hopes for another MLS title came to an end in Columbus last night as the Crew out-dueled the Fire 2-1 in the MLS Eastern Conference final. Brian McBride scored in the 29th minute on an impressive header to give the Fire a 1-0 edge, but the Crew scored twice in the second half (49th and 55th minute) to take the lead, one they wouldn't relinquish. It was a bittersweet experience for McBride who spent many years in Columbus yellow. The Fire had some late chances, but a fourth trip to the MLS Cup Final wasn't in the cards. Goalkeeper Jon Busch was upbeat after the loss, saying, "We gave a good effort. They have a very good team. We had our chances and they had theirs. We gave them too many chances. The first goal took a little air out of us. I can't say enough good things about these guys. We just had those two lapses."

Bulls Rebound To Dump Mavericks
The Bulls got off to a slow start Thursday night, to the tune of a 24-5 deficit in the first quarter. But the team showed a tremendous amount of maturity as Ben Gordon led the Bulls back from the brink, taking the lead just before halftime and eventually cruising past the Mavs 98-91. Gordon led all scorers with 35 points and rookie Derrick Rose reflected the maturity the Bulls showed as a team, overcoming a slow start himself to finish with 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists. On the team's comeback after that awful start, Rose said, "There is no such thing as a 17- or a 19-point shot. We just had to chip away at the lead, play good defense, run the floor and get some of the shots we wanted, which we were finally able to do." While there's still plenty of work ahead, especially being in the same division as the Cavs and Pistons, last night's game showed us what this Bulls team is capable of - both good and bad - and gives us some hope for the rest of the season.

AP Photo/Jay LaPrete