Magic defeated Bulls 118-125ORLANDO Penny Hardaway, Horace Grant and Dennis Scott relished a chance to test themselves against the NBA's best, especially MJ's Bulls. The Chicago Bulls paraded their second road uniform, black with red pinstripes, left Orlando impressed - and eager for another shot at the Magic. Hardaway scored a season-high 37 points, including eleven assists and the Magic beat the Bulls 125-118 on Thursday night. Horace Grant also had his season high 27 points and completely dominated the boards with seventeen rebounds, seven of them offensive.
"We just matched it tonight." Penny said. "We knew that they are on a streak and going to bring it, so it was just an exciting game. It was great competition for the best players in the world, some of the best players in the world to go against each other on TV."
The Bulls got it down to one in the final seconds led by Jordan before Nick Anderson's free throws closed it out. "I'm glad I made those last four important free throws, I would forgive myself if I missed them again" Anderson said, referring to his four missed free throws on game one of 1995 NBA Finals.
Michael Jordan only had 4 points in the first half but finished with 32 points. "It was a fun matchup," Coach Phil Jackson said. "We are looking forward to doing it again, hopefully with Dennis Rodman around."
Penny Hardway scored 37 points and dished 11 assists, while shooting 5-7 from the arc to stop Chicago's 5-game winning streak
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