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Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah said he will play Thursday against the Denver Nuggets after missing the past three games because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
A first-time All-Star, Noah dealt went through all of the Bulls’ practice on Wednesday.
“I felt pretty good,” he said before Thursday morning’s shootaround. “I’ll be all right.”
— Reported by Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago
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Indiana suddenly has a shooting touch to go with its tough defense.
The combination is just too much.
David West scored 29 points Monday night and All-Star Paul George finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, leading the Pacers past Chicago 111-101 for a 14th consecutive home win and into a tie with the Bulls for the Central Division lead.
”We’re just playing together, every game I feel like we’re playing sharper,” West said. ”We still need to pick it up defensively, we’re slipping in that regard, but in terms of the offense and how we’re moving the ball and what we’re looking for, it’s just game-by-game improvement.”
It shows.
Three nights after shooting a season-high 55.7 percent in a relatively easy win over defending NBA champion Miami, Indiana shot 52.7 percent against a Bulls defense that is ranked No. 2 in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage. The only team ahead of the Bulls is the Pacers, and Indiana never trailed in the second half Monday…
Starting guards Derrick Rose (left knee) and Kirk Hinrich (right elbow) and starting center Joakim Noah (right foot) all sat out again with injuries, and they had another scare late in the first quarter when Marco Belinelli crashed to the floor clutching his right ankle. He returned later and finished with a season-high 24 points. Nate Robinson finished with 19 points, nine assists and five rebounds, and Carlos Boozer had 10 points and five rebounds as he returned from a right hamstring injury…
It was Indiana’s first regular-season home win over Chicago since March 18, 2011. … The Bulls are 6-20 all-time at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. … Bulls guard Marquis Teague finished with two points in his first pro appearance in his hometown. … The Bulls lost for only the third time in nine games.
— Reported by Michael Marot of the Associated Press
Chicago Bulls guard Nate Robinson and Golden State Warriors forward David Lee today were named Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Monday, Jan. 28 through Sunday, Feb. 3.
Robinson led the Bulls to a 3-1 week, which included road wins over the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks. He averaged 17.8 points, tied for second in the conference with 2.50 spg and placed third in the East with 6.8 apg. Robinson has scored in double figures in 10 consecutive games for the Central Division-leading Bulls, who stand third overall in the East at 29-18 (.617).
Lee averaged 18.0 points, 14.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists as he helped the Warriors to a 4-0 week. He posted a point-rebound double-double in each contest, improving his NBA-leading double-double total to 31 on the year. The Warriors’ 30-17 (.638) record is good for second in the Pacific Division and fifth in the conference. Lee becomes the first Warriors player to win two Player of the Week awards in the same season since Baron Davis in 2005.
Other nominees for the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Brooklyn’s Brook Lopez, Denver’s Danilo Gallinari, Houston’s Omer Asik, Miami’s LeBron James and New York’s Tyson Chandler.
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Luol Deng and Taj Gibson were exhausted and determined to stay on the floor. They kept playing in the final minutes, long after the Chicago Bulls had secured another win.
Deng said the starters in a patchwork lineup were determined to finish what they started.
Deng had 25 points and 14 rebounds, and the short-handed Bulls used their stifling defense to shut down the Atlanta Hawks in a 93-76 victory on Saturday night.
Playing without injured starters Kirk Hinrich, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer, Chicago dominated near the basket and got a lift from the frenetic play of Nate Robinson. The Bulls used only eight players for the second straight night, but it was more than enough for an impressive road win.
Deng, Gibson and Jimmy Butler each logged more than 45 minutes. Robinson topped 40 minutes as the Bulls had a strong answer for their 89-83 loss at the Nets on Friday night…
Gibson had 19 points and a career-high 19 rebounds…
Butler added another double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Robinson went 4 for 6 from 3-point range and finished with 20 points.
The Hawks had no answer for Deng, who had five assists, four steals and two blocks. He had seven offensive rebounds…
Josh Smith led Atlanta with 19 points and 13 rebounds but his only basket in the second half was a 3-pointer. Jeff Teague scored 16, and Al Horford had 14 points and 12 rebounds.
— Reported by Charles Odum of the Associated Press
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The Brooklyn Nets kept going deeper down their bench to find a winning combination. The Chicago Bulls simply had nowhere to go.
Brook Lopez scored 20 points through three quarters, then the Nets turned to their bench to beat the short-handed Bulls 93-89 on Friday night.
With most of their best players in street clothes, the Bulls’ normally sturdy defense allowed the Nets to make 11 of 18 shots in the fourth quarter. Nine of the baskets were by reserves.
”It’s huge, especially when a lot of our starters didn’t have it going tonight,” Nets guard Deron Williams said. ”It was good that those guys came in and stepped up for us. Without them, we don’t win this game.”
Andray Blatche scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter and MarShon Brooks had nine of his 13 as the reserves scored the Nets’ first 20 points. A starter didn’t score until Joe Johnson’s 3-pointer gave Brooklyn an 86-80 lead with 2 minutes to play…
Johnson finished with 13 points for the Nets, who bounced back from a loss to Miami on Wednesday by beating another top Eastern Conference team.
Luol Deng scored 18 points and Taj Gibson had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Bulls, who played without starters Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer and Kirk Hinrich while losing for just the third time in 11 games…
Nate Robinson had 12 points and 11 assists but shot just 4 of 16 in place of Hinrich, who returned to Chicago to get his right elbow examined. Marco Belinelli scored 18 points and Jimmy Butler had 12 off Chicago’s bench.
— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press
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Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Wednesday that Derrick Rose is now taking “full contact” and the only thing left in his return from ACL surgery is putting in more time and then getting acclimated to a game situation.
Rose’s rehab from his April 28 injury and May 12 surgery has steadily progressed to the point that there are no longer any physical limitations.
“He’s full-contact, yeah,” Thibodeau said before Wednesday’s morning shootaround as the Bulls prepared to face the Milwaukee Bucks.
The likely date of Rose’s return is after the Feb. 17 All-Star Game.
“He can do all the cutting, he can do shooting, he can go off the dribble,” Thibodeau said. “So it’s just a matter of him getting acclimated to playing in a game situation.”
— Reported by Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago
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Luol Deng returned to the Chicago Bulls’ lineup on Monday night against the Charlotte Bobcats after missing five games with a hamstring injury.
Deng, who was recently named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team, is averaging 17.4 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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Britain’s basketball superstar Luol Deng has today delivered a hard-hitting letter to the Prime Minister over the slashed funding that is crippling the sport.
The Chicago Bulls star has weighed in on the debate after UK Sport’s funding was cut in the aftermath of the Olympics.
In a letter sent to 10 Downing Street, Deng wrote: ‘We all heard about the “legacy” that London 2012 was going to bring to sport in the UK and I refuse to sit back and let that legacy be completely demolished for basketball.
‘I, along with other people involved in the game, have put too much in and care too greatly to let this happen.
‘The sport of basketball is a pathway, a pathway that teaches so many valuable lessons on and off the court, how are we supposed to motivate these kids to carry along their journey when there’s now nothing at the end? No Team GB, no Olympic dream, no goal.’
— Reported by Mike Dawes of Daily Mail (UK)
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Emeka Okafor had 15 points and 16 rebounds, helping the surging Washington Wizards beat the Chicago Bulls 86-73 on Saturday night.
John Wall and Nene each scored 16 points for Washington, which has won consecutive games for the second time this season. The Wizards have won five straight at home for the first time in five years, and seven of 10 overall.
It’s a marked improvement from the start of the season, when Washington (11-31) dropped 28 of its first 32 games.
Chicago had won a season-high three in a row for the third time.
Nate Robinson scored 19 points for the Bulls, and Joakim Noah narrowly missed a triple-double with nine points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists, which equaled his career high.
The Wizards outscored Chicago 23-11 in the third quarter to take a 73-55 lead. The 11 points were a season low for the Bulls. Chicago had twice as many turnovers (six) as field goals (three) in the period…
Chicago F Luol Deng missed his fifth straight game with a strained right hamstring.
— Reported by the Associated Press
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The good vibes flowed following Friday’s morning shootaround as Luol Deng and Joakim Noah savored their All-Star status.
Coaches voted Deng to his second straight All-Star reserve selection, while Noah will make his first at the Feb. 17 game in Houston.
“People were coming up to me and saying I had a shot to make it, so it was pretty nerve-wracking,” Noah said. “It’s just an unbelievable honor. I found out (Thursday) night and still can’t believe it.”
The selection prompted a string of eloquent and emotional comments from Noah on his Twitter timeline.
“A lot of people helped me along the way, so there’s definitely a lot of people to thank,” Noah said. “Not only does it make me happy, but it makes a lot of people that were with me happy. A lot of people had to make sacrifices in order to get me where I’m at today, so I just wanted to thank them.” …
Deng agreed that making a second straight All-Star game is special.
— Reported by K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune