Gibson doesn't back down on earlier comments
Since the Bulls won by 25 points Wednesday, the pregame discussion can probably be written off as healthy disagreement.
After the Bulls gave up 112 points in a loss to Golden State on Saturday, Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah both talked about a lack of trust on defense. Coach Tom Thibodeau offered a different viewpoint.
"That's garbage. That's garbage. Trust … it's work. It's work. That's how you build trust," he said before facing Brooklyn. "You've got to know what you're doing, you've got to be tied together, you've got to work at it. It's a cop-out."
Gibson granted Thibodeau the right to a different opinion, but stated his case in the locker room.
"It's just new guys. That's all it is," Gibson said. "Most of the guys are coming from teams (that are) not really defensive-minded teams first, so of course it's going to happen. That's just my opinion. That's what I see on the court.
"I've been here for a while. I know what I'm talking about. Joakim knows what he's talking about. He's the defensive player of the year; of course he's going to know what he's talking about."
Bulls back on guard:
The Bulls started the night ranked 18th in the league in points allowed at 100.5. It shouldn't take a deep investigation to understand coach Tom Thibodeau was unhappy with that development.
Taj Gibson talked about how the Bulls tried to fix things during a rare set of "practice days."
"Practice the last few days was tough," Gibson told reporters at shootaround. "You could tell on everybody's face everybody was kind of (ticked). But we needed that. We kind of got away from our defensive ways and he was really on us and it was a good couple days of practice.
"We really haven't had any practice, haven't had a chance to go over the defensive sets the way we normally used to, and it kind of hurt us a little bit. But the last two days we were back to doing all our old plays to get us ready for defense."
Sour start at home:
Joakim Noah talked about the Bulls' 2-5 start at home after Tuesday's practice.
"It's always disappointing to lose. Just got to learn from our mistakes, and I think a lot of the times we've beat ourselves," he said. "But I think if we keep our minds on improvement, I think the season is a lot bigger than a 2-5 start at home. Yeah, we're disappointed, but we can also turn this around and make it a very special year at the United Center."
Bull horns:
Brooklyn was missing Brook Lopez (back), Joe Johnson (stomach virus) and starting forward Mirza Teletovic (hip pointer) on Wednesday. … According to multiple reports, the Nets agreed Wednesday to trade veteran forward Andrei Kirilenko to Philadelphia.
… Kevin Garnett spent just his senior year of high school in Chicago after growing up in South Carolina, but still feels love for the city. "It's always special to come back to the Chi," Garnett told The New York Post. "Chi raised me. Big salute. It's like my second home, always."