While Robinson left with his pride and joy intact, the Spurs absorbed the Bulls' best punch and exited with a 91-86 victory. With their eighth consecutive win, the Spurs moved within 11/2 games of the Midwest Division lead and 21/2 games of Sacramento and the NBA's best record.

Other than that, not much else good came out of Thursday night for the Spurs. They missed 44 shots, 12 3-pointers and 15 free throws, watched their second-leading scorer leave with an injured foot, and flirted with losing to the league's worst team until the final seconds of a game that lasted 21/2 hours.

"Winning is always good," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who then briefly spoke about the importance of Saturday's game against Boston before walking off without taking a single question.