Thomas has forearm surgery; will be re-evaluated Tuesday
CHICAGO | John Salmons scored 27 points, Joakim Noah added a career-high 21 points and had 16 rebounds, and the Bulls beat the Charlotte Bobcats 93-90 on Saturday night for their third straight win.
The Bulls had a 16-0 run in the third and fourth quarters that turned a nine-point deficit into a seven-point lead at 77-70. They hung on despite some shaky foul shooting, with Charlotte's Flip Murray missing two 3-pointers in the closing seconds.
Boris Diaw led Charlotte with 20 points.
With Chicago up 92-87 with a minute left, the Bulls' Luol Deng missed two free throws, and the Bobcats' Tyson Chandler converted two to make it 92-90 with 21 seconds left. Salmons had a chance to make it a four-point game, but made just one of two free throws with 19.8 seconds left. However, the Bobcats couldn't take advantage.
After a timeout, Murray missed a 3 from the top of the key but had a chance to redeem himself after Diaw grabbed the rebound. Instead, the second one hit the rim and a sprawled out Gerald Wallace knocked the ball out of bounds along the sideline with 3.3 seconds left, giving the Bulls the victory.
Salmons hit 9 of 16 shots, including two 3-pointers. Noah, meanwhile, reached double figures in rebounds for the fifth time while registering his third double-double this season for the short-handed Bulls.
Chicago has just 10 healthy players now that Tyrus Thomas is expected to miss four to six weeks with a broken left forearm. He had surgery Saturday after injuring it a day earlier in a weight-training session.
Even so, the Bulls had enough to get by on Saturday.
They got 14 points from Deng after a slow start and 13 from Derrick Rose. Kirk Hinrich scored six of his nine during the go-ahead run, and the Bulls won despite going 13 for 22 at the foul line.
After rallying from 18 down to beat Milwaukee and coming away with an 86-85 win over Cleveland on Thursday thanks to a stop by Deng and Noah on LeBron James on a last-second drive, Chicago trailed for much of this game.
The Bulls were down 70-61 late in the third when Salmons converted a layup on a 2-on-1 to start the go-ahead run. Hinrich buried a 3-pointer, a layup and a free throw to pull Chicago within one with 1:32 left, and Noah ended the quarter with a hook shot and tip-in to make it 73-70.
Brad Miller then started the fourth with a tip-in and Luol Deng connected from the top of the key to give the Bulls a seven point lead. The Bobcats' Chandler dunked to stop the run but not the momentum. Noah answered with a dunk of his own, and Deng buried a jumper from the wing to make it 81-72 just under three minutes into the quarter.
Charlotte got within one on a jumper by Diaw with 5:33 left, but Salmons responded with a 3-pointer that made it 86-82.
PRO BASKETBALL
Bulls 93, Bobcats 90
John Salmons' 27 points led the Bulls.
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