LeBron James danced all over the Chicago Bulls.
Joakim Noah didn't like being his partner.
James scored 23 points, added 11 assists and busted out several smooth hip-hop dance moves in the second half that annoyed and angered Noah as the Cleveland Cavaliers won for the 11th time in 13 games, beating the Bulls 101-87 on Friday night.
James enjoyed every minute of the win. After Jamario Moon's alley-oop dunk put the Cavs ahead 84-65 in the fourth, James, who was on the bench resting at the time, bounced out of his chair and hopped onto the floor. He continued to rock out during the timeout, mugging for the crowd and dancing along with teammate Danny Green to House of Pain's anthemic rap hit "Jump Around."
When he was back in the game a few minutes later, James did another shoulder shake after being fouled and when he went to the line, Bulls center Joakim Noah yelled something toward him from Chicago's bench. James walked in Noah's direction and was slapped with a technical foul.
Noah felt James took his dancing too far.
"When you're losing the way you're losing and guys are rubbing it in your face, dancing and all that," Noah said. "I have a lot of respect for LeBron. It's just a frustrating situation."
James insisted he wasn't trying to show up the Bulls. He was just having fun.
"It's nothing against the Bulls and it's nothing against Joakim or none of those guys," he said. "It's nothing about showboating on a team. I've seen it happen all last year. I think he (Noah) was more frustrated about the way he played as an individual. He didn't help his team win."
Noah was reluctant to criticize James and was more upset with his performance and the Bulls' latest loss.
"It stinks to lose, man," Noah said. "That's the toughest thing, we can't compete for 48 minutes. We've got to find a way to win games because this losing thing is not a good look, man, it's just not. It's not what anybody in this locker room expected. This losing thing is really frustrating."
