SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Bonzi Wells has been booed in Portland and benched in Memphis, yet he got nothing but love as the Sacramento Kings gave a big postseason problem to the defending champions.

With chants of "Bonzi! Bonzi!" hitting one of the NBA's most-maligned players like 17,317 pats on the back, Wells scored the final big points in the Kings' 102-84 victory over the San Antonio Spurs last night, evening up their first-round playoff series 2-2.

The series and the cheers are sweet redemption for Wells, who had 25 points and 17 rebounds in a dominant effort. But this series has been nothing but trouble for the Spurs, whose title defense has begun with no answers for Wells' relentless offense and Ron Artest's suffocating defense.

"Look where I came from, and how hard people have been on me over the years, and it just feels great to be a part of something special," Wells said. "We've got to go down there and steal one — (but) we might not even call it a steal. We know that we can play with this team, and we can beat them."

Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is tomorrow night in San Antonio, with Game 6 back at Arco Arena on Friday night.

Brad Miller scored 19 points and Mike Bibby added 16 as the eighth-seeded Kings rolled through the second half of their second straight home victory. Artest had 14 points despite early foul trouble, but his teammates again followed his aggressive lead for a blowout victory over the Spurs.

"They beat us in about every facet of the game," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They were physical, aggressive, showed a lot of desire, and we didn't match it. ... Bonzi has been great. He's been a one-man wrecking crew."

Tony Parker scored 22 points and Tim Duncan had 17 for the Spurs. They haven't been able to get Manu Ginobili going. Artest's defense has limited the Argentine forward to 11 points in two games in Sacramento.Wizards 106, Cavaliers 96

WASHINGTON — Hold on, LeBron. Gilbert Arenas and the Washington Wizards aren't quite ready to pack it in.

With LeBron James suddenly, stunningly, quiet after a tremendous first half, Arenas recovered from an awful start to lead Washington's comeback for a victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, tying the first-round series at 2-2.

"Oh, man, that was night and day, wasn't it?" Arenas said after putting behind a six-point, 1-for-9 first half to finish with 34 points — 20 in the fourth quarter.

So much attention during this series has been focused on James' NBA postseason debut, leaving Arenas feeling a tad overshadowed. He is, after all, a two-time All-Star who finished fourth in the league in scoring this season.

"This is LeBron's show, you know. We're just all witnesses," Arenas said with a broad smile, mimicking a catch phrase used in James' shoe ads.

At halftime, everything looked quite good for James and Co., and rather bleak for the Wizards. James set franchise playoff records for points in a quarter (18) and half (25), Arenas was struggling, and Cleveland was up 57-46.

James finished with 38 points, six rebounds and five assists, but he also had seven turnovers.

BULLS 93, HEAT 87

CHICAGO — The Miami Heat bickered among themselves. Shaquille O'Neal had another rough outing, and the Chicago Bulls took advantage.

Kirk Hinrich scored 21 points and hit a key 3-pointer with 1:09 left, and the Bulls evened the first-round series at 2-2.

"The team believes it can win this series, and that's it," forward Andres Nocioni said.

With O'Neal in foul trouble for much of the game, the Bulls built a 13-point lead in the third quarter, only to fall behind in the fourth before pulling the game out.

Chris Duhon's runner gave the Bulls an 85-83 lead with 1:42 left. After a timeout, Miami's Dwyane Wade missed a jumper, and Hinrich hit a 3-pointer from several feet beyond the top of the key to make it 88-83 with 1:09 left.

"I knew that I was behind the line a little ways, but I wasn't thinking about how long," he said. "I knew the clock was down to about six or five. They were off me and I took a rhythm dribble and let it go."

Heat teammates Gary Payton and Wade shouted at each other late in the first half. They continued to go at it during a timeout with 39.8 seconds left in the second quarter, and Antoine Walker got into it with Payton.