Don't blame the schedule-makers. Hey, they're trying as hard as they can to help the Bulls.

For the second straight home game, the Bulls faced a team playing its second road game in as many nights. We're talking 48 minutes of basketball, a late charter flight, an early-morning bus ride to the hotel, maybe a few hours of sleep.

Dare it be said, a tired team?

This time the Bulls were in a similar situation, having arrived home from Boston after 1 a.m. Saturday. After snoozing their way through the third quarter, the Bulls rallied to defeat the Knicks 84-79 before a crowd of 18,064 at the United Center.

Ron Mercer and Greg Anthony scored 17 apiece to lead the Bulls.

Anthony's three-pointer with 1 minute 40 seconds remaining broke a 76-76 tie. Marcus Fizer followed with a steal and breakaway dunk, and the Bulls never again trailed.

The Bulls missed their first 11 shots after halftime and went nearly six minutes without scoring before Anthony ended the drought with a baseline floater.

Guard Fred Hoiberg, continuing to struggle with his shot, missed his first six attempts through three quarters.

The Bulls still found themselves in that 76-76 deadlock with 2:55 remaining.

In the daily teenager update, Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler both logged first-half minutes for the first time. Curry entered to a loud ovation with just 5:14 elapsed and promptly buried his first shot, a baby hook over Othella Harrington.

In fact, coach Tim Floyd used his bench extensively in the first half, playing everybody but guard A.J. Guyton and giving rookie Trenton Hassell 13 minutes.

All three rookies contributed effective minutes. Curry and Hassell scored eight and six points, respectively, through three quarters.

"This team always plays hard," Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy said before the game. "Their starters have a good chemistry because they share the ball and they have enough scoring."

Saturday night, they finally did.