In a game which left the Bulls organization searching for a homocide detective, Chicago came away both annoyed and frustrated with their treatment by both the referees and the Wizards, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune is reporting.

The physical encounter saw the Wizards, who are still in the race for a playoff berth, take a 42-15 advantage at the free throw line against the Bulls, who are not in the race for a playoff berth.  Throw in chipped teeth to Tyson Chandler and Jalen Rose as well as a staggering five technical fouls and one flagrant foul and it is not hard to arrive at the conclusion that the Bulls were crucified.

Johnson writes that with the Bulls trailing 89-76 and 4 minutes 37 seconds remaining, Jordan hit Jalen Rose in the neck and head with force as he attempted to steal the ball. The Bulls flipped when Jordan avoided a flagrant foul, officials telling Bulls coach Bill Cartwright that the  foul would be reviewed and possibly awarded flagrant status at a later date.

Not that this would do the Bulls any good at that point in time, taking into account the fact that both Chandler and Donyell Marshall ejected moments earlier for much softer acts.

"I know for a fact he should've," Rose said. "It was so blatant. He hit me in the head and knocked my tooth out."

"He was talking to the refs. They had an interesting dialogue going on throughout the game. There was nothing [Jordan] could say to me. The damage was done, I didn't get a shooting foul, he didn't get a flagrant foul. We're the Bulls. Take it out of bounds and whatever."

Jordan admitted he fouled Rose hard on purpose. But he said he merely was trying to teach Rose a lesson.

"He was advocating the trash talking and trying to dirty up the game," Jordan said. "They didn't have any other purpose than to dirty up the game and get our heads out of the game. I felt that was inappropriate, especially when you have young guys. You're trying to teach them the right way. He's a leader for their ballclub. If I want to tell my guys the same thing, that doesn't serve a purpose in terms of us getting after it as a team."

"I felt liked it was getting out of hand," Jordan added. Did I foul him hard? Yes, I did. ... I just felt that he was not being true to the game.''

Rose felt the officials didn't have a solid grasp on the game, and while they had a tough job keeping the peace they did not do a good job of calling the game justly or understanding things from a players' perspective - especially from the side of an underdog.

"I understand when you're an official, you do what you can to try to control the game and they have a tough job," Rose added. "But players have a tough job too. What should you do if you don't feel you're getting a fair shake? Should we quit? Should we pack up our team and leave? We have to fight.

"Other than that, it was David slaying Goliath, but Goliath was able to use a weapon."