Hughes In The Right Place At The Right Time

A Chicago Sun Times article by John Jackson

SAN ANTONIO -- When Larry Hughes dislocated his right shoulder during a preseason game last month, the initial prognosis had him being sidelined a minimum of six weeks. That would have meant he wouldn't have been able to return until sometime next week.

Instead, Hughes missed half that amount of time and is starting to round into form after nearly two weeks of game action.

Hughes certainly announced he can be a factor this season when he came up with a loose ball and stuck a 20-foot jumper at the buzzer to give the Bulls a 101-100 victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night.

''It's coming back,'' Hughes said Tuesday after the Bulls conducted a practice at Trinity University in preparation for tonight's game with the San Antonio Spurs. ''I missed the first eight games. Being out for three weeks, it takes some time to get some timing and rhythm back, but I feel comfortable just getting out there playing minutes.

''I definitely feel like I can make plays, and making game-winning shots and game-winning passes is something I want to do.''

Hughes becoming the hero Monday was the result of a fortunate bounce. With the Bulls trailing by a point, the final play was set up for rookie Derrick Rose, who had another spectacular game with 25 points and nine assists.

But Rose's potential game-winner hit hard off the back rim and bounced out to Hughes on the perimeter. He gathered himself, took a dribble-step back and fired a fadeaway jumper as a defender ran at him.

The shot left Hughes' hand with about 1.4 seconds left, and time had expired by the time it dropped through the basket.

''We were fortunate,'' Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. ''Derrick had a nice look at it and he was hot at the time, being aggressive and we'll take our chances. Larry stayed in the play and made a really nice play.

''You have to get fortunate once in a while. We've had our share of bad things happen, so it was nice to get a break.''

The ball bouncing out to Hughes was a fortunate break, but he still had to hit the shot in the clutch.

''The ball hit the back of the rim, my guy went in to rebound it and it went over his head,'' Hughes said. ''I knew I could get off a pretty good shot, a quick shot, and I had enough to make it. I had a good look. I definitely felt like it was going in.''

The Utah defender recovered enough to charge out and contest the shot.

''I was kind of locked in on the rim,'' Hughes said. ''I knew I had to get away from him a little bit because he was coming back out on the close-out. But I was pretty much locked in on the rim, and I felt like he wouldn't block it.''

After dropping the first two games of the trip -- including a 42-point loss in Portland -- the Bulls have won two of three and are a respectable 7-8 on the season.

''We feel pretty good,'' Hughes said. ''We're on a six-game trip, we're 2-3 right now with a chance to go .500 on the trip. That's what we're focusing on, being competitive, especially in the West. It would be a positive to come on the West Coast trip and go .500.''