Bulls cruise, but Noah hurt
After a tough loss to Minnesota over the weekend, the Bulls got the benefit of a free pass on Monday.
Well, every team is dangerous and rebuilding Philadelphia has been playing close games lately.
But the winless 76ers were missing one of their most dangerous players, center Nerlens Noel, which limited their interior defense.
The Bulls offense had a field day while rolling to a 111-88 victory at the Wells Fargo Center. Nikola Mirotic produced 20 points and 10 rebounds, as six Bulls scored in double figures.
Mirotic wasn't going to start this game. Coach Fred Hoiberg decided to switch the lineup and go with Joakim Noah, but Noah experienced soreness in his left knee during warm-ups and was a late scratch. After the game, Hoiberg didn't think there was any cause for concern.
“He went out to warm up and felt some pain in his knee, so we were precautionary about it and decided it's best to probably hold him out tonight,” Hoiberg said. “Hopefully he'll be fine. We'll re-evaluate him tomorrow.
“It wasn't any one particular move. He just has some soreness in his knee. It doesn't sound like there was anything structurally wrong with it.”
Mirotic had been in a scoring slump the previous three games, when he averaged 3.7 points and shot 16.7 percent from the field. In the first four games of the season, Mirotic averaged 18.8 points.
That's one reason why Hoiberg decided to make a switch, but when Noah was hurt, Mirotic returned to the startling lineup.
“We wanted just to change things up,” Hoiberg said. “Our defense in the first quarter hadn't been very good. Not to put that directly on Niko, but I jut wanted to change the rhythm up, maybe change the rotation a little bit.
“It was great to see Niko have the type of night he did knocking down shots, especially in that second half.
“I thought he rebounded the ball very, very well tonight. But that was the thought, just to change up the rhythm a little bit to start the game.”
Mirotic hit 6 of 11 shots overall, with 3 baskets from 3-point range. Doug McDermott added 18 points, Pau Gasol had 16 points and 6 blocks, while Derrick Rose finished with 12 points and 7 assists.
The Bulls piled up 28 assists and 27 fastbreak points.
“I thought Derrick did a really good job playing with pace out there tonight. He's the one who got it started for us,” Hoiberg said. “One thing we talked about in pregame is how competitive (the Sixers) have been and how hard they play.”
The first half featured a couple of extremes. The Bulls used a 22-4 run to take a 15-point lead. But then they had a stretch of hitting 1 of 17 shots and let Philadelphia take control.
The Bulls were back up by 9 at halftime and cruised in the second half.
Sixers rookie Jahlil Okafor, a Chicago native, had a nice game, with 21 points and 15 rebounds.
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