Vinny Del Negro has been asked about the inconsistency of his big men so often he could begin charging for answers.
"We would love to have that," he said, diplomatically, before Saturday night's game. "Now, we have a lot of backcourt scoring. But you need a nice balance." Finally, the Bulls found some, getting energy, activity and production from Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah in a pulsating 113-104 victory over the Nets.
The question, of course, now is: Can those players follow up on it or is this just another tease?
The Bulls will have to wait until a Tuesday road game in Charlotte to find out but in the meantime, they will savor 16 points, five rebounds and three steals from Thomas, who shook off a hyperextended neck to play the entire fourth quarter, and seven points and eight rebounds from Noah.
The Bulls trailed 96-93 when Derrick Rose drained a huge three-pointer with 3 minutes 10 seconds remaining. Following a Yi Jianlian miss, Ben Gordon, who led the Bulls with 29 points, gave the Bulls the lead for good with another three.
The teams traded points before Carter missed a three-pointer under heavy pressure from Luol Deng. Rose, who had 22 points, six assists and six rebounds, then sank a tough right-handed runner in the lane with 1:23 remaining.
The Nets imploded when Devin Harris argued a no-call and was hit with a technical, with Gordon draining the free throw. Harris then committed a bad turnover and fouled Thomas, who iced matters with two free throws with 36.7 seconds remaining.
Noah and Thomas left their fingerprints all over a 9-0 fourth-quarter run when things could have gone south for the Bulls. Noah started it with a conventional three-point play off a tip-in. Thomas slammed home a perfect alley-oop from Larry Hughes. Thomas then drained two free throws following a steal and full-court drive.
The Bulls fell behind 23-8 early but, with Thomas' engagement, rallied to take a four-point lead at one point in the second quarter.
Thomas played the final 10:50 and made all four field-goal attempts with three dunks, two of them alley-oops. He also spectacularly blocked a Brook Lopez layup before spending minutes at the scorers' table with athletic trainer Fred Tedeschi after the second-quarter buzzer, his sore neck resulting from an inadvertent Deng elbow.
The Bulls trailed 60-50 at halftime as they didn't have a defensive answer for Carter. The dynamic guard scored 18 by the break, including a halfcourt heave just before the halftime buzzer.
"He's one of those guys who you can guard well or even two guys can guard him and with his athletic ability, he can still make plays," Del Negro said.
Carter responded to a dismal game Friday against Toronto with a game-high 39 points.
But this night belonged to the Bulls.
kcjohnson@tribune.com
