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CHICAGO -- Joakim Noah led the Chicago Bulls past the Atlanta Hawks and gave the fans an added bonus in the process. George Blanda Raiders Jersey . Noah scored 19 points as part of his first triple-double of the season in the Bulls 100-85 win over the Hawks on Tuesday night. His two late free throws provided the Bulls with their final points and secured free Big Macs for the fans. "Those were tough free throws, man," Noah said. Not much else seemed difficult for Noah and the Bulls. Noah added 16 rebounds and 11 assists, and Taj Gibson had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and Jimmy Butler had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulls, who had six players score in double figures. Chicago won its fourth straight against the Hawks and sixth in a row at home versus Atlanta. Noah had his fourth career triple-double and first since Feb. 28, 2013, against Philadelphia. He completed this one with an assist on Gibsons basket with 9:59 left. The performance capped a strong stretch for Noah, who has had at least 10 rebounds in four straight games and at least 14 points in three of his last four contests. "I think the big thing is hes healthy. Hes gotten into rhythm," Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. "I think missing training camp set him back offensively. Defensively hes been terrific all year." The Bulls were without Carlos Boozer for the third straight game because of a left calf strain, and he was replaced in the starting lineup by Gibson. That didnt hurt Chicago much, as the Bulls (26-25) outrebounded the Hawks 57-28, won for the third time in four games, and pulled a half-game in front of Atlanta (25-25) in the Eastern Conference. "Were playing with a lot of defensive intensity," Gibson said. "We got guys great looks. We were real unselfish." The Hawks have lost a season-high four straight overall. They fell behind big early, trailing by 25 points during the second quarter. Atlanta cut its deficit to eight with 8:47 left in the fourth on Mike Scotts 3-pointer, but Chicago answered with the next six points. "I think the second half is what we expect from our group, what we expect of each other, and the challenges to find a way to play that way for 48 minutes," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. The first half clearly wasnt. Noah, who was presented his All-Star jersey before the game by Bulls general manager Gar Forman, had six points, six rebounds and six assists during the opening quarter. He ended the first half with seven points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists for the Bulls, who led 58-39 after coming home from a 3-3 trip. "Usually when you come back from a West Coast trip like that you exhale," Noah said. "Nobody exhaled. We played hard and it was a good win for us." Coming off a 79-76 loss to Memphis, in which the Hawks held the Grizzlies to an NBA-record low one free throw, Atlantas offence woke up too late. The Hawks shot 43.8 for the game after making 40 per cent in the first half. All-star forward Paul Millsap had 15 for the Hawks but his streak of four games with at least 10 rebounds was snapped as he had two. Lou Williams added 13 points, and Jeff Teague had 12. "We just have to stay together," Millsap said. "Get back to playing our style of basketball. We feel like we have not played at our pace in the last few games." Kyle Korver extended his NBA record streak of at least one 3-pointer to 119 games with a shot 15 seconds into the second quarter. Korver hasnt gone without one since Nov. 2, 2012, against Houston. But that was the lone Atlanta highlight. The Bulls had a few more, and Noah was responsible for plenty of them. "It feels great to play well. Theres no better feeling, especially when you win," Noah said. "A lot of guys stepped up." NOTES: Thibodeau said that Derrick Rose will "most likely not" practice with the team this season. Rose was ruled out for the season after tearing the meniscus in his right knee on Nov. 22. ... The Hawks signed Cartier Martin to a second 10-day contract. Martin also played six games with the Bulls earlier this season. ... Both teams have one game remaining before the All-Star break. ... Teagues brother, Marquis, was traded by the Bulls to Brooklyn on Jan. 21 for forward Tornike Shengelia. ... Atlanta is 9-12 without Al Horford, who is out for the season because of an injured right pectoral muscle. Justin Tuck Raiders Jersey . Goran Dragic scored 32 points in 32 minutes and the Suns routed the Knicks 112-88 on Friday night for their season-high sixth victory in a row. Sio Moore Jersey .J. -- With the New Jersey Devils fighting for a playoff spot, Jon Merrill picked the perfect time to score his first NHL goal.Got a question on rule clarification, comments on rule enforcements or some memorable NHL stories? Kerry wants to answer your emails at cmonref@tsn.ca! The mail bag is loaded with questions as to how the Los Angeles Kings third goal in their 6-0 win over Montreal on Tuesday could possibly have been allow to stand after Kyle Clifford backed into Habs goalie Carey Price deep in his goal crease (video link here). As my colleague Ray Ferraro said on the TSN broadcast, "Oh, I cant believe there are going to allow this goal...In my opinion, this is as goaltender interference penalty as youll find!" I couldnt agree more with Rays accurate assessment of this play. What troubles me most, beyond the tremendous inconsistency we see in calling goalkeeper interference, is that Referee Kevin Pollock had an unobstructed view from a stationery position in the corner closest to Kyle Clifford and Carey Price. The clear sightline gained in advance by the referee, as the Kings attacked the Montreal goal, should have made it easy to wave off Alec Martinezs first goal of the season and assess a penalty to Clifford for goalkeeper interference! The rebound off the initial save that Price made went to the opposite side of the net from where the referee was standing - as Clifford was backing deep into the goal crease and initiated contact with Price. From his position, the referee couldnt help but look through the blue paint to locate the puck and therefore should have reacted to the obvious goalkeeper interference that knocked Price off his set and thereby prevented him from defending his goal. It matters little to me that this goal didnt impact the final outcome of the game. What this play highlights for us is that the current system of detecting and enforcing goalkeeper interference is not working. When the referee on the goal line, and directly responsible for this call, doesnt catch the interference a subsequent conference held between the four officials is intended to act as a safety check to make the correct determination. Thaat obviously isnt happening on a regular basis.Brandian Ross Womens Jersey. Recent decisions in the past couple of weeks have impacted games and will continue to do so until a video review process is implemented to allow the refs to get this important call right! On Nov. 27, Evgeni Malkin pushed Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier off a frozen puck and completely across the goal line with his stick before scoring the tying goal that forced overtime. While goalie interference was most obvious on this play, no call was made and the goal was allowed to stand. Pittsburgh picked up two points in the eventual shootout win. Two nights later, a Leaf goal was immediately disallowed by referee Justin St. Pierre when Habs goalie Carey Price moved forward to establish position in his crease and initiated contact with James van Riemsdyk. JVR had set up just inside the top of the crease with his skates visible in the blue paint. On that play rule 69.3 was enforced by the letter of the law which states, "If a goalkeeper, in the act of establishing his position within his goal crease, initiates contact with an attacking player who is in the goal crease, and this results in an impairment of the goalkeepers ability to defend his goal, and a goal is scored, the goal will be disallowed." The goalie interference rule doesnt get any clearer than that and demonstrates in both philosophy and spirit that a goalkeeper should be allowed to position himself within his blue paint to stop the puck without any physical obstruction unless initiated by a defending player. Im good with that philosophy and the call that referee Justin St. Pierre made in the enforcement of this rule. The problem we see far too often is that protection of the goalkeeper is not enforced consistently. I hope the leagues executives have addressed this pressing issue, among other problems that need their attention, during recent meetings. The implementation of referee video review and/or a coachs challenge seems to be the most logical solutions to get this crucial call right. ' ' ' |
