The Morning After: Bulls Roll A Turkey, Knox Heads To Pro Bowl
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jan 26, 2010 4:00PM
Bulls Stop Spurs For Third Straight Win
The Bulls seem to have turned around their road misfortunes of the season as they won their third straight game last night, topping the sputtering Spurs 98-93. While the team was led by Derrick Rose's 27 points - and helped by Kirk Hinrich's 18 - it was Joakim Noah who played the hero for the Bulls. Though he didn't expect to start thanks to a foot injury, Noah still played tough, breaking a 93-93 tie, scoring the games final five points, and providing some key defensive plays down the stretch. Is there finally reason for optimism? While they're a very distant second place in the division (12.5 games behind Cleveland), the Bulls are now just one game under .500 at 21-22 and seventh overall in the Eastern Conference. Besides the current winning streak, the Bulls have also won 7 of their last 10. The rest of the road trip won't be easy, though, as they next head to Oklahoma City tomorrow night to face Kevin Durant and the Thunder, a team that's 24-20 but outside the playoff picture of a strong Western Conference (7 p.m., CSN).
The Bulls also began making some roster moves yesterday in the hopes of freeing up cap space to make room for a big free agent signing this off-season when they traded Aaron Gray to the New Orleans Hornest in exchange for Devin Brown. Hinrich or Salmons could be next as the Bulls seem to be preparing for a run at either Bosh, Stoudemire, or even (why not) LeBron come the summer.
Knox Named To Pro Bowl Roster
With the Super Bowl XLIV match-up all set, the NFL announced replacements yesterday for players on Super Bowl teams or injured over the weekend. An injury will keep Vikings rookie Percy Harvin from participating in this weekend's game so Bears rookie wide receiver Johnny Knox was named as his replacement. Officially, Knox is listed on the NFC roster as "kick returner" alongside the Eagles' DeSean Jackson. Lance Briggs was the only other Bear to make the roster, his fifth straight selection, but pulled out a few weeks ago due to injury; he was replaced by Green Bay's Clay Matthews.