Bulls find a spark in win over Bobcats

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Somewhere out there Wednesday night, probably when the Bulls and the Charlotte Bobcats reached the end of the third quarter, Jud Heathcote must have been sobbing uncontrollably.

Two of Heathcote's former players at Michigan State, Scott Skiles and Sam Vincent, squared off as NBA coaches for the second time in five days. The result was a horrendous exhibition of basketball, particularly by the Bulls in the third quarter.

Then finally, the Bulls found some chemistry that clicked and discovered a lineup that might be worth using for the full 48 minutes Friday in Detroit.

The Bulls went from trailing 60-49 with 1:13 remaining in the third quarter to posting a 91-82 victory over the slumping Bobcats, who have lost seven in a row.

"I don't know anybody that wants to be in that position where we're always searching for combinations out there," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "But unfortunately that's kind of where we are right now."

Here's how things turned around for the Bulls in a nutshell: Their last substitution of the night came with 4:53 remaining in the third quarter when Chris Duhon replaced Kirk Hinrich. The visitors trailed 53-43 at the time.

The Bulls (5-11) played the rest of the way with Duhon, Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Andres Nocioni and Joakim Noah. During the final 16:53 with that lineup on the floor, the Bulls hit 16 of 25 shots and outscored the Bobcats 48-29.

Nocioni and Noah brought energy and enthusiasm, and the Bulls passed the ball and looked like a confident offensive team for one of the few times this season.

"We had them running around trying to find who's open," said Deng, who scored a game-high 30 points. "We did a good job of moving the ball and had a lot of open looks."

"Offensively, we had a couple plays that we just continued to run, because we got good shots off of them almost every time," Gordon said.

Nocioni finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Duhon had 12 points and 9 assists. Noah added 8 points, and when he buried one of his Earth-ball jumpers to put the Bulls up 83-75 with 1:26 remaining, the 6-foot-11 rookie let out a scream that could be heard in all corners of the mostly empty Charlotte Bobcats Arena.

"It was good to be out there and contribute when it matters," Noah said. "Did you see Noc grab those boards? It was crazy. I thought I was pretty high and he was just jumping over me. When we play with that kind of energy and that aggressiveness, then I think we're better."

Nocioni was almost defiant in the postgame locker room. He didn't want to waste time talking about a lineup combination that has worked once.

"It's just one game," Nocioni said. "I think it worked today, but it's not always going to happen next game. We need a big win, against a team like Detroit or Boston (the Bulls' next two opponents)."

While three subs excelled for the Bulls on Wednesday, the usual suspects struggled again. Hinrich went scoreless with just 1 assist in 17 minutes. Ben Wallace had 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and no points in 22 minutes. Tyrus Thomas played six minutes as Joe Smith (11 points) got his first start of the season.