Easy victory for Bulls just what doctor ordered
It was the best of teams, it was the worst of teams.
And after the poor performance against defending champ Miami, the Bulls sure were glad to run into the lowly Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night.
Under coach Tom Thibodeau, the Bulls have been a good bounce-back team. So after taking a big hit from the Heat on Thursday, the Bulls took a run off the wrestling ropes and flattened Charlotte 105-75 with owner Michael Jordan looking on from the front row.
With the Bulls (32-23) coasting in the second quarter, Jordan left his seat and didn't return.
“We liked the way were able to bounce back after a bad loss,” Taj Gibson told reporters after the game. “Last year we wouldn't allow ourselves to lose two straight games. We need that same mindset.”
The Bulls' ballhandling took considerable strides in 24 hours. Against Miami, the sloppy Bulls coughed up a season-high 27 turnovers. In Charlotte, they finished with just 6 turnovers, compared to a season-high 37 assists.
The 37 assists were 1 short of the NBA high for the season and the most for the Bulls since they had 42 at Milwaukee on April 14, 2008.
“We were disappointed in the way we played against Miami,” Thibodeau said. “And we felt that we beat ourselves yesterday, so we wanted to correct that. I thought we responded well.
“The important thing was that we approached today from a standpoint of learning from our mistakes. You can use the (excuse) of ‘back to back' or ‘we got in late' and we did none of that. We chose to work, got the lead early and played hard and played well.”
Eight different players scored in double figures for the Bulls, led by Gibson with 17 points. Luol Deng added 14; Nate Robinson, Jimmy Butler and Marco Belinelli scored 12, while Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah had 10 each.
Boozer grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, with Noah tacking on 8 boards and 8 assists.
“We had a lot of good ball movement,” Noah said. “Everybody was getting an opportunity to score and it just became contagious.”
Charlotte (13-42) shot just 33 percent from the field and received 27 points from guard Kemba Walker. Two of the Bobcats' top scorers had trouble finding the rim. Center Byron Mullens hit 1 of 12 shots. While veteran guard Ramon Sessions went 0-for-9.
Kirk Hinrich sat out his second straight game with soreness in his right elbow. He's now missed nine of 10 contests in February.
On the other side, a couple of former Bulls couldn't even get on the court for the league's worst team. Ben Gordon was benched and Tyrus Thomas was inactive for the fifth straight game.
The Bulls still have a conditional first-round pick coming from the Bobcats as a result of the 2010 Thomas trade.
mmcgraw@dailyherald.com