Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau spoke with Noah on Big Mac incident
By JOE COWLEY jcowley@suntimes.com November 7, 2012 8:04PM
Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah smiles in the fourth quarter before the Bulls defeated the Orlando Magic 99-93 in an NBA basketball game in Chicago on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012. Noah had 20 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. (AP Photo/Charles Cherney)
Nate Robinson wasted no time pointing the finger at Joakim Noah.
With the Bulls up 99-93 against the Magic and just 3.8 second left in the game on Tuesday, Noah fired up a three-pointer in hopes of cracking the 100-point total and getting the fans at the United Center free Big Macs through a promotion the team had going.
“Talk to Joakim about that,’’ Robinson said to the media, after the game.
The media wasn’t the only ones that wanted to talk to Noah about it, as head coach Tom Thibodeau was not pleased with Noah’s decision.
“I talked to him about it, but I’m going to keep that private,” Thibodeau explained after Wednesday’s practice.
Not that Noah needed a visit to the principle’s office to know it was wrong. He knew that right after the game Tuesday night.
“You have to respect the game because you never know what can happen in a game,’’ the center admitted. “I just got caught up in the moment and I was trying to get the people a Big Mac. They really wanted a Big Mac and I felt like, not only did I take the shot and miss the shot, we didn’t even get the Big Mac. Next time, I won’t take that 3-pointer.’’
Noah is the second known Bulls player that had to have a one-on-one with Thibodeau because of something that happened on the court, with Thibodeau upset with a Robinson off-the-backboard pass to teammate Jimmy Butler in a preseason game.
