Bullish on the road with 109-88 win over Kings

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Bulls' young big men have been widely maligned this season, but Friday night was a clear demonstration that their interior defense is far from the worst in the league.

Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas had big nights as the Bulls rolled to an easy 109-88 victory over the reeling Sacramento Kings, losers of eight straight.

The Bulls snapped a nine-game losing streak at Arco Arena, dating to Nov. 23, 1997. Combined with Wednesday's blowout of the Clippers, they also won consecutive road games by at least 20 points for the first time since the 1996-97 season.

"Basically, we did exactly what we wanted to do, come out here and get wins against two teams that we thought could be beaten," guard Ben Gordon said. "We didn't play down to the level of competition. We stuck to the game plan."

An unofficial count had 9 dunks by the Bulls, including 5 by Noah, who threw down a couple of alley-oops from Derrick Rose and finished with 17 points, 2 off his career high.

Thomas, meanwhile, produced 14 points and 10 rebounds to record his seventh double-double of the season. According to the Bulls, Thomas had a total of 7 double-doubles in his first two NBA seasons.

But Noah and Thomas were working against DeAndre Jordan, Brad Miller and Jason Thompson the last two games. The next to contests will bring matchups against Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming, beginning tonight in Phoenix.

"Tomorrow's Shaq, so you can't get too high," Noah said. "I feel a lot better and more comfortable on the court. I feel like I've still got to improve."

Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro contended that Noah and Thomas have made legitimate strides recently. Whether they can match this performance against better competition remains to be seen.

"You have an opportunity every time you step on the court to make an impact," Del Negro said. "They've had positive impacts on these last couple of games. When they play well, obviously our chances for success go up."

Gordon and Luol Deng added 20 points each, while Derrick Rose piled up 11 assists. No one played more than 35 minutes for the Bulls (20-27), which may help their effort tonight against the Suns.

With massive New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia, a longtime friend of injured Bulls forward Drew Gooden, sitting courtside, the Bulls shot 55.6 percent from the field and held the Kings to 36.8 percent, while forcing 22 turnovers.

"I thought we'd have a lot more energy, effort and determination to win the game tonight," Sacramento coach Kenny Natt said. "I know it's tough coming off a four-game road trip, but this was very unacceptable."

Not only have the Kings (10-38) been losing with great frequency, this was their first home game after an Eastern road trip that concluded with back-to-back games in Cleveland and Boston.

Seizing the opportunity, the Bulls pushed the tempo and got off to a fast start. They led 34-22 after the first quarter, then increased the advantage to 45-24 with 7:10 left before halftime.

Then the Bulls managed to give Sacramento 7 points in two possessions, thanks to a technical foul on Andres Nocioni, a defensive three-second violation and a 3-point play.

The Kings eventually got as close as 58-50 early in the third quarter, but the Bulls answered the challenge and stretched the lead all the way to 90-63 on Aaron Gray's uncontested dunk at the 10:24 mark of the fourth.