Plauderecke » Bulls 94-87 victory over the Sacramento

CHICAGO -- Chicago Bulls fans chanted "MVP" when Joakim Noah made big plays. Noah doesnt like the attention. "Thats not whats important to me," Noah said. "Its just all about this team right now. Weve been through so much. Its not about individual accolades." Noah turned in another MVP-type performance on Saturday night, finishing with 23 points and 11 rebounds in the Bulls 94-87 victory over the Sacramento Kings. "First thing is his game is through the roof right now. His confidence is through the roof," teammate Taj Gibson said. But Noah would rather focus the attention on the team and how it withstood the Kings comeback. Gibson scored seven of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Mike Dunleavy added 16 and DJ Augustin had 12 for the Bulls (37-29), who are fourth in the Eastern Conference and improved to 3-2 on their six-game homestand. "It was very physical out there tonight," said Noah, who added eight assists, five blocked shots and three steals to his 33rd double-double. "That was a good win. We didnt let frustration get to us. We stuck with it." Isaiah Thomas led the Kings with 26 and DeMarcus Cousins had 25 points and 14 rebounds. The Kings (23-43) won the rebounding battle 55-40, but committed 16 turnovers and were 23 of 37 at the free-throw line. "Thats a lot of points to be left on the court," Kings coach Michael Malone said. "The reality is were just not good enough to not take advantage of all of those free throws." Both teams struggled on offence, with the Bulls shooting 40 per cent and the Kings 37 per cent. "The fact that we allowed a team that does not score a lot in transition score 20 fast-break points, obviously that wasnt part of our game plan," Malone said. The Kings are 2-4 on their seven-game road trip. Cousins hit a layup with 1:01 left to cut the Bulls lead to 88-85. Gibson responded with a jumper with 42.2 seconds left, and the Bulls made four of six free throws to seal the win. The Bulls led 48-43 at halftime before the Kings outscored them 20-16 in the third to pull within one. The Bulls have won four straight at home against the Kings, the only team below .500 to visit during the homestand. Noah had 17 points and five rebounds and Rudy Gay led the Kings with 10 points at halftime. Noah scored 12 points in the first quarter, which ended 23-23. "Noah is an incredible player. I say hes the heart and soul of that Bulls team," Cousins said. The game was more competitive than the teams previous meeting. The Kings routed the Bulls 99-70 at Sleep Train Arena on Feb. 3, when the Bulls finished with season lows in points and shooting percentage (28.2). "Thats a good team even though their record is not too well," Gibson said. "They tend to play well at times. It was a battle tonight." NOTES: Dunleavys right eye was black and blue and he wore tape above it. He received 10 stitches after he caught an elbow when he drew a charge Thursday in the Bulls 111-87 win over Houston. ... Evans started at power forward for the Kings to match up against the Bulls front line. Malone said the Kings will decide who plays the position based on each games matchup. Derrick Williams has played both forward positions. ... Malone was impressed with G Jimmer Fredette, who played 41 games with the Kings this season before he signed with the Bulls on March 2. "He was always in the gym, even on off days, committed to getting his work in," Malone said. "Even when he was not playing and part of the rotation, he never dropped his head, kept on working, kept on supporting his teammates. Thats why I think the Bulls at some point will be able to use him." ... The Kings are 10-24 on the road. Air Max Cheap Uk . Torres tells Spanish daily AS "in football you never know where you will be inside one month. Im going to work hard, thats all you can do with this last part of the season so important. Air Max Uk Sale . - Olympic champion Marielle Thompson accomplished her mission of defending her skicross World Cup title at Nakiska Ski Area on Saturday. http://www.airmaxcheapuk.com/. - The Pittsburgh Pirates plan on keeping promising left fielder Starling Marte playing alongside National League MVP Andrew McCutchen for years to come. Air Max Sale Uk . Linemates Ryan Johansen and Boone Jenner each had a goal and an assist in the first period, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 36 saves to lead the Blue Jackets past the Florida Panthers 4-1 on Saturday night. Wholesale Air Max . There will be no Down Under four-peat for Djokovic, as the eighth-seeded Swiss slugger Wawrinka outlasted the second seed 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 at Melbourne Parks Rod Laver Arena in yet another five-set thriller in their burgeoning rivalry.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Oklahoma City Thunder are beginning to make their ascension up the Western Conference standings and the rest of the NBA should be on alert. The Thunder have won five straight and seven of their last eight games, and will welcome the Phoenix Suns to town Sunday at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Oklahoma City continued its rise with Fridays 111-92 triumph against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Russell Westbrook paced the visitors with 34 points, six assists and six rebounds. Steven Adams had 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Kevin Durant also scored 16 points. OKC was coming off a 103-94 win over Cleveland the night before. I think we did a good job coming in with a good mindset, coming off a back- to-back, said Westbrook, who extended his streak of at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists to seven games in a row. Tough game. We came into another teams homecourt and took care of business. The Thunder scored 39 points in the first quarter to set the tone and added an additional 31 points in the second stanza. The 70 first-half points were four shy of tying a team record. Since Durant made his debut after foot surgery, the Thunder are 5-1. They have scored 100 or more points in five of those contests and are averaging 104.1 ppg in the previous eight. Oklahoma CCity has won four straight at home and is 6-5 as the host.dddddddddddd It will head west next for three games against Sacramento, Golden State and the Los Angeles Lakers. The Suns have lost four in a row and will try to improve their 6-6 road mark. Phoenix sustained a 105-103 loss to the lowly Detroit Pistons on Friday, as Andre Drummond led the visitors with 23 points and 14 rebounds. The Pistons were able to stop a 13-game slide. Goran Dragic scored 18 points to lead the Suns, Markieff Morris posted 17 and both P.J. Tucker and Eric Bledsoe netted 16 points for Phoenix, which made 47 percent from the floor and committed 17 turnovers for 28 Detroit points. There were 19 lead changes on the game and the Pistons grabbed some breathing room on a Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 3-pointer to break a 97-97 tie. Were a .500 team. That doesnt guarantee us wins over any team in the league, Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek said. The 12-12 Suns have lost two in a row on the road. Dragic is averaging 21.1 points in his last seven games and hopes to give the Suns a backcourt advantage against Westbrook. Phoenix and Oklahoma City will play the first of four straight meetings this season. The Suns won two of three in this series a season ago. OKC has won six straight at home versus the Suns. ' ' '