Boylan says 'I run the team'

MIAMI -- Asked before Wednesday night's game how he's enjoying the experience of being a head coach, Jim Boylan made a statement about his authority over the Bulls.

"All the decisions that were made in the last week or so were made by me," Boylan said. "Not by anybody else. Not by Ben Wallace or Adrian Griffin or anyone else like that. They were made by Jim Boylan.

"I'm the head coach of the Chicago Bulls and I run the team. I discipline these guys. They respect me. I try to respect them. This is my team right now and I'm the coach, and I think people need to know that."

Boylan's comment seemed to be in response to criticism that he caved in to his players when they voted to increase Joakim Noah's original one-game punishment to two games last weekend.

"It was ultimately my decision to do that," Boylan said. "I had the veto power on that. I could say yea or nay on that, and I thought about it for quite awhile. I decided that it was the best move for our team, so that's why I did it."

Nocioni bounces back: Kirk Hinrich missed his second game with back spasms, while Andres Nocioni bounced back from a nasty fall the previous night in Orlando in impressive fashion.

Nocioni scored 20 points in just more than 18 minutes against the Heat and knocked down 4 of 5 attempts from 3-point range.

"I know it's going to hurt tomorrow," Nocioni said following the game. "But it's just a hit. Nothing bad. Nothing broke. I'm going to try to rest a little bit and try to do my job for the next game."

Happy moments OK: Coach Jim Boylan didn't think the issue of players laughing on the bench late in Tuesday's ugly loss to Orlando merited much attention.

"I don't that it's indicative of the way the guys feel about the game," Boylan said. "We have guys in the locker room who really care. There are moments on the bench too when they're looking really down. In the locker room after the game, they're quiet, they're upset.

"So to take one moment in time and think that's indicative of the way a person is feeling, I think is inaccurate."

Plane trip averted: Chris Duhon gave some additional insight into Joakim Noah's rant against assistant coach Ron Adams last week and Jim Boylan's reaction to it.

"As soon as it happened, Jim wanted him gone for the whole trip," Duhon said Wednesday during an appearance on WMVP 1000-AM. "When it happened, Jim was really upset and just wanted him to get on a plane then and there and go back to Chicago."

Boylan eventually settled on a one-game suspension, which was increased to two games by recommendation of the players.