Thu, 12/17 Bulls vs Knicks

Sometimes, the opponent is just as important as how well you play.

That definitely was the case Thursday night as the Bulls -- despite another sluggish start, a slew of silly mistakes and inconsistent play -- snapped a two-game losing streak with a 98-89 victory against a New York Knicks team that was content to fire away (and mostly miss) from the perimeter.

Amazingly, the Knicks (8-17) hoisted 47 shots from behind the three-point line -- making just 16 for a percentage of .340 -- to literally shoot themselves out of the game. The 47 attempts were just two off the NBA record. Obviously, the 16 were well off the mark for most made.

Worse, the Knicks were 7-for-13 from behind the arc in the first quarter, meaning they went 9-for-34 (26.4 percent) the rest of the way. New York had just 86 field-goal attempts, meaning they attempted eight more three-pointers than two-pointers.

''They were hitting so many at first I think they got a little happy,'' Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. ''And we got out of rhythm toward the end of the first quarter and never got back into it.

''And give them credit, too. They picked up their defense. They've got some nice athletes on the floor and they did a good job.''

The way things have been going for the Bulls of late -- this was just their third win in the last 14 games -- they were just happy to win against anybody, any way.

''We knew they were going to take some jump shots,'' Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich said. ''They are a perimeter shooting team.''

The Bulls (9-15) trailed by 17 in the first quarter and didn't play as well as they did two days earlier in a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, but it was good enough against a subpar opponent.