Chicago ? Not even injuries can slow down the Chicago Bulls.

Othella Harrington scored 22 points, and the Bulls won their ninth straight game with a 112-97 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats on Saturday night.

The Bulls easily extended their season-high winning streak and moved 10 games over .500 despite missing two players. Chicago moved a half-game behind the Washington Wizards for the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

“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. “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.”

Eddy Curry missed his third straight game and remained hospitalized for more testing on an irregular heartbeat. Luol Deng also missed the game for Chicago because of a sprained right wrist.

Kirk Hinrich played despite a sore left hamstring, and Ben Gordon only played 13 minutes because of foul trouble, but the Bulls never had problems with the struggling Bobcats.

Spurs 95, Lakers 94

San Antonio — Brent Barry banked in a running layup with 6.7 seconds left to lift San Antonio. Kobe Bryant missed an 18-footer off the back rim at the buzzer.

Heat 111, Hornets 99

New Orleans — Shaquille O’Neal had 34 points and 15 rebounds for Miami.

Magic 103, Nets 102

East Rutherford, N.J. — Orlando mounted several comebacks and defeated New Jersey to clinch the tiebreaker between the teams.

Nuggets 103, Blazers 97

Portland, Ore. — Carmelo Anthony scored 23 points, and reserve Earl Boykins added 17 points.