Del Negro OK with Noah's confrontation with James
Given some time to think about Joakim Noah's stand against perceived poor sportsmanship from Cleveland star LeBron James, coach Vinny Del Negro gave his full support.
"I thought it was the right thing," Del Negro said before Saturday's loss to Toronto. "Everyone was feeling the same way, I think. But we have to play better and not put ourselves in that situation."
Noah initiated a verbal altercation with James during the fourth quarter of the Bulls' loss in Cleveland. James was dancing on the sideline in front of the Cavs bench during a timeout and Noah spoke up from the bench a few minutes later while James was at the foul line.
Between free throws, James walked toward Noah and was given a technical foul, but things calmed down quickly.
"I thought it was good. It doesn't bother me," Del Negro added. "I didn't see the exchange of words so much. I think the league will take a look at that stuff. It's part of he game but you also have to be smart about those things and not take it to a level where things get out of hand."
For his part, Noah said he hadn't received any messages congratulating him for taking a stand and didn't expect to talk things over with James anytime soon.
Noah was ejected from Saturday's loss to the Raptors after getting his second technical for arguing foul calls with 7:19 left in the third quarter. He might have been upset with Florida's loss in the SEC title game and assistant coach Pete Myers claiming to be an Alabama die-hard in the pregame locker room even though he went to college at Arkansas-Little Rock.
Vast improvement: Until running into the Bulls, Toronto was one of the worst defensive teams in recent NBA history. The Raptors were giving up 114.5 points on the road this season, including 146 at Atlanta on Wednesday.
Toronto made a drastic roster makeover during the summer and has five foreign-born players getting significant minutes. A turning point may have come Friday when the Raptors held a team meeting to encourage better communication between players of different nationalities.
"It wasn't a split, in my opinion. It was more so just not knowing how to relate to different guys," Raptors star Chris Bosh told Toronto reporters. "Instead of calling someone out because they weren't doing their job or playing hard we kind of just kept it quiet. I mean, the more quiet you are the easier it is to get divided. You can divide yourselves just by not saying anything."
Bull horns: Kirk Hinrich missed his fifth game with a sprained left thumb. - Former Bulls second-round draft pick Sonny Weems logged a few minutes for the Raptors on Saturday. The Bulls traded Weems for the rights to center Omer Asik, who is playing in Turkey.