The Bulls were without Eddy Curry again on Saturday, but it did not matter as they cruised to a 112-97 victory, their 9th in a row.

``This is something special. I hope that all the young guys on the team understand that streaks like this don't come around very often in the NBA,'' said Chicago's Eric Piatkowski, who had 19 points in the win. ``It just doesn't happen. You can play many, many years in this league, unless you are fortunate to have Shaquille O'Neal on your team or have a team like maybe the Detroit Pistons or San Antonio Spurs are right now, it's tough to do things like that.''

The Bulls are not just half a game behind the Wizards for the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.