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closeJohn Salmons scored 27 points, Joakim Noah added a career-high 21 points and had 16 rebounds, and the Chicago 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.
NOTES: With just 10 healthy players now that Thomas is out, coach Vinny Del Negro said the Bulls are discussing whether to bring in another player. His injury could also create an opportunity for rookie James Johnson. ... Considering he was averaging 5.5 rebounds for his career entering the game, Gerald Wallace is as surprised as anyone that he's leading the league. "When you can't make a layup, you've got to find some way to help the team," said Wallace, who came into the game shooting just 30.9 percent. ... Bobcats F Derrick Brown and C DeSagana Diop were inactive.
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