RealGM

PHILADELPHIA -- This is how you bury a bad home loss and open a critical, four-game trip. This is how you answer critics, overcome injury and illness and put a foolish rookie mistake in the background.

With Luol Deng sidelined, the flu bug sweeping through the team and Joakim Noah inactive and in street clothes after challenging assistant Ron Adams' authority at the morning shootaround, the Bulls gutted out a 100-97 victory over the reeling 76ers.

Who cares if the 76ers have lost six straight and the Bulls almost let another double-digit fourth-quarter lead slip away?

When you fail to score on 13 of 14 first-quarter possessions, trail by 18 early and have the wherewithal to prevail, you exhale and do so deeply.

"Man," Ben Gordon said with a weary smile, "we needed this."

"They're my friends, but I still want to burn them," Smith said, laughing. "We needed a little payback."

"It was a wild game," interim coach Jim Boylan said.

"We need to solve our problem of coughing up leads," Boylan said. "But our guys kept their composure early. In timeouts, we said let's not panic and chip away. It was great to see our guys respond."

Boylan also called Nocioni's intensity and physical defense on Iguodala a "difference-maker" in the victory, which ran Boylan's mark to 5-3.

"Wow, I started really, really bad," Nocioni said of his side-of-the-backboard shot. "That was one of the worst shots of my life. But I picked up my game and helped my team to a win and started the trip the right way."

A local reporter asked Boylan before the game whether he believed the Bulls to be a playoff team.

Boylan's answer may not have filled much space. But it spoke volumes to his and his players' belief and confidence level.

"Yes," he said.

newskoolbulls wrote:That was Nocs best game in weeks.

newskoolbulls wrote:no what i said was that was Nocs best game in weeks. Noc is a backup on our team but he would start on many clubs. The past two weeks he has stunk all around and last nights performance was really needed.