Hinrich steps up his game with career-high 38 points
The Bulls faced a crucial game Wednesday night without their two leading scorers, then finished the night with one perplexing strategy issue.
Maybe the Bulls should have gotten out of the way and let Kirk Hinrich operate more often this season.
Hinrich turned in a dominant performance, scoring a career-high 38 points and hitting 14 of 21 shots as the Bulls handled the Indiana Pacers 108-95 at the United Center without the services of Ben Gordon or Luol Deng.
"I felt it kind of put on my shoulders that I had to make plays tonight, without BG and Lu especially," Hinrich said. "I'm confident I can make plays whenever I want out there. I was just on the attack tonight. That was my mind-set from the start."
The Bulls were as short-handed as they've been in recent memory. Deng decided to rest his nagging sore left Achilles for a week or two, and Gordon was a late scratch because of a sore right wrist suffered when he hit the floor hard Monday in Memphis. Backup guard Chris Duhon also is sidelined with a bruised left knee.
Following the game, coach Jim Boylan suggested it's time for the Bulls to start building on victories. Their longest winning streak of the season is two games.
"After the game, I told the guys we have to move on," Boylan said. "We can't be patting ourselves on the back, feeling good about a victory. We need to keep moving forward and not let a win like this trick us into thinking that everything is OK when everything is not OK right now. We need to get better, and we need to improve."
Hinrich's previous high game this season was 22 points. He added 10 assists, 7 rebounds and held Indiana counterpart Jamaal Tinsley to 2 points in 30 minutes of action.
"That was the story of the game tonight," said Pacers coach Jim O'Brien. "We had no answers for him."
Elsewhere for the Bulls, Andres Nocioni (24 points) and Thabo Sefolosha (14 points) made offensive contributions, while Joakim Noah continued to take playing time from Ben Wallace. The rookie center played a season-high 34 minutes, finishing with 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Even with the missing players, the Bulls showed something that bodes well for the future. Indiana has joined the growing number of teams using a smaller lineup, trying to spread the floor and shoot a high number of 3-pointers.
The Bulls were able to match the Pacers' lineup without giving up any height because the 6-foot-11 Noah has the speed to stay with smaller opponents.
"It definitely feels good to be out there," Noah said. "I understand the system a little bit better and things like this always take time for me. I'm getting more comfortable, but at the same time I realize not to take anything for granted."
Noah took advantage of Indiana's lack of size by scoring three times in the post and once on a tip-in during the first half. His presence helped the Bulls break open a tie game with a 17-0 run early in the second quarter.
The Bulls' lineup during the bulk of the run was Noah, Tyrus Thomas, Adrian Griffin, Nocioni and Sefolosha.
The victory moved the Bulls (17-24) within a game of New Jersey and Indiana for the final playoff spot in the East.