01-03-2020, 02:25 AM
CHICAGO -- For the Chicago Bulls, there is only way to ease the pain from the Luol Deng trade. Manute Bol Jersey . Just keep winning. D.J. Augustin had 20 points and 12 assists and Joakim Noah added 19 points and 14 rebounds, helping the streaking Bulls beat the Charlotte Bobcats 103-97 on Saturday night. Chicago had seven players score in double figures in its fifth consecutive victory. The Bulls (17-18) also improved to 3-0 since they traded Deng to Cleveland late Monday night for Andrew Bynum and draft picks. Chicago then cut Bynum in a salary dump. "The trade definitely hurt," Noah said in his first public comments since the deal. "Weve got to move on, but I feel confident in this team. Were working really hard. "A lot of people say this is a business, and all that, but this game is more than a business to me. I put everything Ive got into this. Lu was the same way, so it was hard for me to digest. Thats just my perspective. Everybody has a different job. Im not mad at anybody." Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau also wasnt a fan of the deal, but likes the way his team has responded. "I think its so important to be mentally tough when you face adversity," he said. "Theyve shown that throughout the year. Every time we get knocked down, we get back up -- and thats the mentality you have to have in this league. Things dont always go your way, and when they dont, you cant sit there and mope. Youve got to move on and get ready for the next one. "Ive said this before: If youre not satisfied with your circumstances, then you have to do everything you can to change them. I think thats what our team is doing. Were fighting, scratching, clawing. Whatever we have to do, thats what were gonna do." Mike Dunleavy scored 17 points for Chicago, which recovered after blowing a 15-point lead in the second half. Carlos Boozer had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Bobcats (15-23) have dropped three straight. Gerald Henderson had 30 points, and Kemba Walker scored 29. Charlotte scored 22 of the last 29 points of the third to tie it at 70 heading to the final period. Walker had 13 points in the run, including a layup with 0.7 seconds to go. Josh McRoberts dunk gave the Bobcats a 73-72 lead in the fourth, but the Bulls then scored 11 straight points. Noah got the run started with a dunk and scored seven points in the surge. The key fourth-quarter run put Chicago ahead to stay. Walkers layup got Charlotte within four with 11.8 seconds to go, but Kirk Hinrich hit two foul shots to help the Bulls hold on. Chicago played without guard Jimmy Butler, who injured his left quad during Friday nights victory in Milwaukee. Butler has missed 13 games this season due to injury. Hinrich and Taj Gibson had 12 points apiece for the Bulls, who made 21 of 26 foul shots. Cartier Martin, who signed a 10-day contract with the Bulls on Friday, scored 11 in his first game with the team. Al Jefferson had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Bobcats, who went 19 for 20 at the line. Charlotte was outrebounded 46-34. The Bulls built a 52-42 halftime lead behind 13 points from Dunleavy, who has assumed the starting small forward spot previously held by Deng. Despite missing their two best players at the start of the season -- Deng and Derrick Rose, who is out for the season following knee surgery -- and another starter in Butler, the Bulls are in the midst of their best stretch of the season. "Were just going to go out there and give everything weve got," Noah said. "Theres no tanking . none of that. When people in Chicago say Chicago Bulls, I want them to be proud of that." NOTES: Jefferson had a total of 14 points in his two previous games before Saturday. "Hes in a dependent position," coach Steve Clifford said of Jefferson. "Its depending on the schemes of the way (opponents) play him." . The Bulls signed Cartier Martin to a 10-day contract on Friday and he finished with 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting against Charlotte. Garrison Mathews Jersey . Others describe it as taking the parrot for a walk. Mike Davis Jersey . Both sides of the deal have formally announced acquisitions: TFC introduced Jozy Altidore as a designated player on Friday, while their counterparts announced a three-and-a-half-year deal with Jermain Defoe. https://www.cheapwizardsonline.com/1509k...zards.html . TSN 1290s coverage begins with Hustler & Lawless at 3pm. Rick Ralph hosts the Official Jets Pre-game Show at 5pm.HOUSTON - Heading into a game with the San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale had his eye on a few matchups. A specific one that caught his eye was getting Dwight Howard in the post.The plan worked.With San Antonio missing big bodies Tim Duncan, who was rested along with fellow veteran Manu Ginobili, and Tiago Splitter (right calf tightness), Howard dominated the interior from the opening tip, scoring 32 points and grabbing 16 rebounds in leading Houston to a 98-81 victory.We looked at some stuff (on tape) and we got him in the post, McHale said. I thought (Howard) rolled hard and got some late at the rim. He was really devastating on those high passes. Its important that he gets in a rhythm and plays. It doesnt matter who is out there playing for them, hes got to play well for us.The win runs Houstons record to a league best 6-0 while dropping San Antonios mark to 2-2.With no Duncan or Splitter inside Houston had a decided advantage down low and exploited it from the beginning, feeding Howard at every turn. Whether on the pick-and-roll, at the elbow, or on alley-oop passes, Howard was the target and had a double-double — 20 points and 12 rebounds — by halftime as he exploited a vulnerable Spurs interior defence where Matt Bonner, Jeff Ayers, and Aron Baynes struggled to keep up.We are a sum-of-the-parts team, Popovich said. We have to have all our parts to be at our best. We cant rely on one player. We have to do it as a group. If we have injuries, we need our full bench to continue to play at our best.When Howard was not scoring inside, James Harden filled the stat sheet, adding 20 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Rockets. While he had his share of points, Harden was clear after the game about the advantage of having a force inside.Its tough with the best big man in the league rolling down the paint, Harden said of Howard. Jeff Ruland Jersey. Hes a lob target, and you have shooters around him. Its tough to guard it.As the Spurs struggled to keep Howard from gutting them in the middle, they had little consistency when they had the ball. They started the game sluggish, going scoreless in the first six minutes.While San Antonio rebounded and pulled to within 18-15 at the end of the first quarter, that was as close as the Spurs would get. The tough night finished with the defending NBA champs, who trailed by as many as 31, shooting just 34.4 per cent from the field.It was a bad night tonight and I couldnt hit a shot, Tony Parker, who finished with just six points, said. Defensively, we did OK, but we never got into an offensive rhythm.Cory Joseph led the Spurs with 18 points off the bench and Baynes had 12 points and 11 rebounds.TIP-INSSpurs: Marco Belinelli was an injury scratch due to a strained right groin and was replaced by Bonner. . San Antonio started 0-for-15 on 3-pointers, making their first with 7:02 to go in the third quarter, and finished 2 for 20 from beyond the arc.Rockets: Terrence Jones missed his second straight game with a leg contusion. . Patrick Beverley missed the game due to a strained hamstring and was replaced by Isaiah Canaan, who scored 12 points along with Jason Terrys 16 points. . Houston has now won six games over the Spurs dating to last season.WINNING BIGHouston has won each of its first six games by 10 points or more. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Rockets are the first team to accomplish the feat since the 1985-86 Denver Nuggets.DEFENDING THE ARCHouston came into the game holding opponents to 29.1 per cent from beyond the arc. That number will improve after holding the Spurs to 2-for-20 shooting from 3-point range.UP NEXTSpurs: Host New Orleans on Saturday.Rockets: Host Golden State on Saturday. ' ' '