Joakim Noah notched the fourth triple-double of his career against the Atlanta Hawks Tuesday night. The two-time All-Star scored 19 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and dished 11 assists in the Bulls 100-85 victory.
Only 10 other players in NBA history have put up that kind of line in a basketball game, and Noah put himself in elite company with the likes of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley and Jason Kidd.
And along with Noah, only Bird tallied the same scoring, rebounding and assists stat line while tallying at least three blocks.
“A lot of players that guard me, they back up a lot, they give me a lot of space because I can drive,” Noah explained. “That just opens up the dribble-handoff game. So I've just been trying to concentrate on making quick decisions and trying to get my teammates open.”
But Noah has never been big on individual accolades, so the gravity of his accomplishment against Atlanta seemed to be lost in what the Bulls would like to accomplish as a team.
"There’s nothing more than I want than to win a championship,” said Noah. ““Right now it’s about building the right habits, playing in those big games.”
