Deng's 27, Hinrich's triple-double lead Bulls to 101-96 win over Knicks

This was a Bulls win that actually looked better on paper than it did to the naked eye.

The Bulls struggled to pull away from the lowly New York Knicks on Friday, then let a 16-point lead dwindle all the way to 3 during the final six minutes.

Once the home team finally finished off a 101-96 victory at the United Center, the stat sheet told some interesting stories:

• Kirk Hinrich collected his second career triple-double, finishing with 15 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds.

• Luol Deng had a nice star-quality turn, piling up 29 points and 10 rebounds while hitting 13 of 19 shots from the field.

• The Bulls set a United Center record, as well as an NBA season high, with 15 blocked shots. Andres Nocioni led the way with 5 blocks, including 2 against Knicks center Eddy Curry. Hinrich, Ben Wallace and Joakim Noah had 3 blocks each.

Heading into Friday's action, the Bulls ranked 24th in the league in blocked shots with an average of 4.3 per game.

"We had moments in the game where we played very good basketball," coach Scott Skiles said. "There's something there to build on."

The Bulls' record doesn't look all that great at 8-13, but they have won six of their last nine games.

"We've got to keep believing," Deng said. "We really believe in ourselves. We see it in practice. We've been together before, so we know it's going to come around."

Of all the unusual stats from Friday's game, Hinrich's performance has to be the most encouraging. The fifth-year guard had a miserable start to the season. But in the last four contests, Hinrich has averaged 14.3 points and 9.0 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field.

"I think I played well tonight, but I don't think I've played my best game, by any means," Hinrich said. "I can still do things better out there."

Backup point guard Chris Duhon, usually among the league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio, had an interesting analysis of Hinrich's game.

"He was just real decisive," Duhon said. "I think a lot of things that got him in trouble earlier was he was dribbling the ball way too much. Tonight, all his decisions were real quick and all of his passes were accurate. That's why he was able to make 14 assists. If he continues to make quick decisions, he's going to be fine."

The Bulls might consider installing a dribble alarm at the United Center that would buzz any time someone pounds the ball for more than five seconds, whether it's Hinrich or another player, because that's when the offense inevitably fails.

"Griff (Adrian Griffin) and I sit together on the bench, and every time we see that, we're like, 'Ohh, somebody's going to get up a bad shot,' " Duhon said. "But when we're taking two or three dribbles max, the ball is moving, that's when we're at our best."

The Bulls played without forward Tyrus Thomas, who was given a one-game suspension for his role in Wednesday's scuffle with Indiana forward Troy Murphy.

The Knicks (6-16) were missing guard Stephon Marbury because of the death of his father and forward Quentin Richardson with a sore knee.

Zach Randolph led New York with 27 points, while Curry went scoreless and sat out the final 20 minutes.