Bulls win 3rd straight
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CHICAGO – It really wasn’t too long ago that Joakim Noah was a rookie clashing with teammates and coaches. Now, John Salmons calls him a “glue guy.”
Salmons scored 27 points, Noah added a career-high 21 points and had 16 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the Charlotte Bobcats, 93-90, on Saturday night for their third consecutive win.
“Since I’ve been in Chicago, I’ve been impressed with Jo,” said Salmons, who joined the Bulls in a trade in February. “He’s been one of those glue guys, one of those guys that works hard.”
The Bulls had a 16-0 run in the third and fourth quarters that turned a nine-point deficit into a seven-point lead at
77-70. They hung on despite some shaky foul shooting, with Charlotte’s Flip Murray missing two three-pointers from the top of the key in the closing seconds.
Boris Diaw led Charlotte with 20 points, but the Bobcats were outrebounded for the first time this season, 44-38. Besides watching his team give away a nine-point lead, coach Larry Brown made it clear he didn’t like what he saw from the officials, either.
“Boris went in for a layup, Gerald (Wallace) went in for a layup, we didn’t get anything out of that,” said Brown, who along with the organization was fined $60,000 after he lashed out at the replacement referees in the preseason.
With the Bulls up, 92-87, with a minute left, the Bulls’ Luol Deng missed two free throws, and the Bobcats’ Tyson Chandler converted two to make it 92-90 with 21 seconds left. Salmons had a chance to make it a four-point game, but made just one of two free throws with 19.8 seconds left. However, the Bobcats couldn’t take advantage.
After a timeout, Murray missed a three-pointer from the top of the key but had a chance to redeem himself after Diaw grabbed the rebound. Instead, the second one hit the rim and a sprawled out Wallace knocked the ball out of bounds along the sideline with 3.3 seconds left, giving the Bulls the victory.
Salmons hit 9 of 16 shots, including two three-pointers. Noah, meanwhile, shot 10 of 12 and registering his third double-double this season.
“I know I’m not going to score 21 points every night,” Noah said. “I think that I want to see consistently is my rebounding and my defensive effort.”
