Fred Hoiberg Still Tinkering With Different Bulls' Combinations

By Cody Westerlund--

CHICAGO (CBS) – The sense of relief on Fred Hoiberg's part was readily evident late Saturday night. He's been the Bulls' coach for just more than six months now, and rarely during that time has his squad executed the type of basketball his reputation was built on in five successful seasons at the college level.

What's followed has been a Bulls team having to answer questions not just about a steep offensive learning curve but also why they've been so joyless in playing a child's game.

Under Hoiberg, these themes go hand in hand. So on Saturday after a 98-94 comeback win against the Pelicans (6-17) at the United Center, Hoiberg exhaled a bit, happy the Bulls (13-8) made a small step in the right direction offensively in a 34-point fourth quarter that prominently featured five players moving in tandem as opposed to two men running a pick-and-roll with nothing more going on.

"It was fun," Hoiberg said. "It was fun to watch. It was fun to sit there and see it as opposed to going down and moseying into our offense.

"The energy, the pace … that's what happens when we play the right way, share the ball and move."

The Bulls' rally from a 10-point third-quarter deficit came as Hoiberg continues to tinker with his lineup combinations. He again started Taj Gibson on Saturday and brought Nikola Mirotic off the bench. For the second consecutive game, he also closed with the duo of Aaron Brooks and Derrick Rose (nine points) in the backcourt, sliding Jimmy Butler (15 points) to small forward.

In a plot twist on this night, it was the big-money players taking a backseat to Brooks, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the final quarter, knocking down a trio of 3-pointers and getting to the hoop consistently, including a go-ahead scoop layup with 40.3 seconds left that gave Chicago a 96-94 lead.

"I've liked it a lot the last couple games," Hoiberg said when asked if he'll continue to go with the Rose-Brooks-Butler trio together.

The harder decision for Hoiberg will be how much more to utilize reserve big man Joakim Noah moving forward. On an evening in which the Bulls were again lackadaisical early, committing seven turnovers en route to an eight-point first-quarter deficit, it was Noah was provided a game-long spark.

Noah had 10 points, nine rebounds and four blocks and cashed the winning ticket on the proposition with the longest odds of the night: him taking Pelicans star Anthony Davis off the dribble and throwing down a thunderous dunk.

Noah did just that with 9:05 left, shortly after the Bulls' second unit went on a 9-0 to give them the lead.

"I thought he was going to run into the crowd and start chest bumping people," Hoiberg said.

Noah played 29:33, making the most of the rare opportunity to close a game in its entirety in his second-most minutes of the season. The only time he received more playing time was when Mirotic left a game with a concussion.

Hoiberg didn't commit to playing Noah more, though he spoke volumes of his play and surely has noticed the spark a too often lackadaisical team receives from Noah on the nights he feels his healthy best after dealing with nagging knee problems. Saturday's solid play from Noah came two nights after he grabbed 13 rebounds in just 20 minutes against the Clippers.

Noah played the final 18:43 of Saturday's game.

"It's not one of those things I can control, so I'm just trying to make the most of what I have," Noah said of playing time.

"Everybody wants minutes. It's no secret in the NBA that everybody wants minutes."

For his part, Hoiberg was just enthused to see his team play a stretch of basketball that looked Hoiberg-ian.

"After the game, he was just excited," Doug McDermott said. "He came in here clapping, all fired up. After Kirk (Hinrich) hit that three in the corner there with our second unit (early in the fourth quarter), you could just tell he was fired up going into the huddle. It's something not a lot of us have seen."

Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.