Del Negro doesn't mind fans booing

A few days ago, Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro mentioned that he had no problem with teammates arguing on the floor, as long as it's constructive.

Del Negro is also cool with fans booing the Bulls at the United Center, which they did during last Saturday's loss to Minnesota and again in the first half of Tuesday's win over Sacramento.

"If you don't come and play hard, you should get booed," Del Negro said before the contest. "Fans pay a lot of money to come to games. They want to see guys that work hard and put it out on the floor.

"I think we've done that for the majority of the season, but some games we haven't been as consistent in that area and those are the things that concern me."

Gooden back strong: Drew Gooden wasn't bad in his return to the lineup, producing 18 points and 10 rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench against the Kings.

Out since Dec. 19 with a sprained right ankle, Gooden hit just 4 of 11 shots, but scored some vital points in the fourth quarter. He had a dunk off Derrick Rose's driving miss with 5:44 left, then added 6 of 8 free throws down the stretch.

"It's awful frustrating to sit and watch my team," Gooden said before the game. "It is kind of tough to tell the guys, 'Come on, let's do this or do that, we've got to play hard' and I'm in a suit and tie."

Gooden added a plug for the Bulls being a playoff team once Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich return from injuries.

"People gave me heck about calling it a rebuilding year (in October)," Gooden said. "It was because everything was new to us. We had a rookie point guard and guys were going to have different roles. We came a long way. I think we've had a little slippage here as of late. I think we can make that back up and be in a good position for the playoffs."

Chapu goes cold: Playing with short hair for the first time this season, Andres Nocioni missed his first 10 shots against the Kings before finally knocking down a corner 3-pointer with 10:24 left in the fourth quarter. Nocioni played just 12 minutes overall, his lowest total since Nov. 30 at Philadelphia.

Bull horns: Tuesday's announced crowd of 18,060 was the Bulls' smallest at the United Center since Jan. 10, 2005. ... Aaron Gray started at center and scored the Bulls' first basket of the night, then never returned to the floor after playing the opening six minutes. Drew Gooden joined the starters when the second half began.