CHICAGO -- Joakim Noah fell one assist short of his fourth career triple-double Thursday night, and the 6-foot-11 centre sounded almost embarrassed by his pursuit of that feat late in a rare comfortable home win by the Chicago Bulls. Moe Harkless Jersey . "Its not really good to play basketball that way," Noah said. "Focusing on your stats is not that cool, but I tried to get it." Following the Bulls 94-82 victory over the Boston Celtics, no one else in either locker room was about to criticize the focus on statistics at the end because Noahs playmaking ability was the main reason Chicago had a sizeable lead down the stretch in snapping a two-game home losing streak. He finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists to lead six Bulls scorers in double figures. "Noah is an all-around winning guy," Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. "I coached against Noah as an assistant in college in the Sweet Sixteen. Hes a guy who makes his teammates better in all the different ways. He even made the plays that will never get on the stat sheet -- pulling over and helping, being long and forcing us to make another pass or forcing us to miss a shot. "All those things add up at the end of the game." They just didnt add up to 10 assists. Carlos Boozer had 16 points, Luol Deng 14, Taj Gibson 12, Mike Dunleavy 11 and Jimmy Butler 10 as the balanced Bulls bounced back from a loss to Toronto on Tuesday in the opener of their four-game homestand. Jordan Crawford led the Celtics, who have lost two straight, with 22 points. Noah had nine assists early in the fourth quarter, but couldnt get another. Butler missed a jumper with 8 seconds left in a last-second gasp. "We really wanted him to get the triple-double," Gibson said. "I told him if I was in the game, I would have gotten it for him." The Bulls (13-18) could afford to laugh for a change. Their early-season troubles can be tied directly to their inability to win consistently at the United Center. The Bulls had dropped six of seven home games to fall to 7-7 at the United Center this season. Worse, five of the six losses came against teams with losing records at the time of the game. That stretch began two days after Chicago scored a 20-point home win against defending champion Miami. The Bulls also have a 16-point home win against Indiana, the club with the best record in the Eastern Conference. Even without star guard Derrick Rose, this team expects to win consistently at home. "We have to turn it around," Noah said. "To do that, everybody has to go in and give everything they have. We cant take any nights off. You cant play at 70 per cent, you cant play at 80 per cent. Youve got to give everything youve got every night." To help avoid the prolonged offensive droughts that have plagued his team in the past, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau decided to use Noah as more of a playmaker. "We have always run a lot of the offence through him, and thats what makes us a little different," Thibodeau said. Chicago moved ahead of the Celtics for eighth place in the Eastern Conference despite being five games under .500. "Theyve had their struggles, but thats not a 13-18 team," Stevens said. "As they get fully healthy, theyll continue to have success because they execute on both ends of the floor as well as anybody in the league. That being said, their offence is going to find itself, the shooting will find itself. It did a little bit tonight." NOTES: Celtics G Rajon Rondo, sidelined nearly a year since tearing his ACL, said before the game he is likely to play a stint in the D-League before returning. "I think thats what its for," he said. "Id probably be the first guy to do that, but it doesnt make a difference. I want to make sure Im healthy and handle it the right way. I havent had a preseason. I havent had a training camp." There is no timetable for Rondos return. ... The Bulls had a full complement of players -- other than Rose, who is out for the season -- for a second straight game after playing short-handed for virtually all of December. "The challenge is how quickly we can adapt to the moving parts," Thibodeau said. ... The Celtics, who have a home game Friday against New Orleans, had to stay in Chicago on Thursday night because of the weather. Jusuf Nurkic Jersey . The Italian football federation announced the appointment, three days after new president Carlo Tavecchio was elected. Tavecchio and Conte spoke on the phone early Thursday. C.J. McCollum Jersey .ca/CurlingSkins - with the Top 16 curlers earning a ticket to Banff, Alta. to compete in the TRAVELERS ALL-STAR CURLING SKINS GAME Presented by Pintys, running Jan. http://www.blazersprostore.com/Cheap-Al-Farouq-Aminu-Blazers-Jersey/ . -- Tony Finau won the Stonebrae Classic on Sunday for his first Web.NEW YORK -- Henrik Lundqvist is the king of the New York Rangers record book for goalies. He surged this season past Mike Richters mark for career wins (301) and dispatched Ed Giacomin on the shutout list (49). The only thing missing is a Stanley Cup ring. That is the one area in which Richter still has him beat. "The more pressure there is, the better he seems to perform. Thats what you want," first-year Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "I know he wants to win the Cup. ... Were going to need him to be at his best, but this is a team game." King Henrik got off to a good start Thursday night when he and the Rangers beat the Flyers 4-1 in the first-round playoff opener. Philadelphias first shot got past Lundqvist and put the Flyers ahead, but he stopped the other 14 that came his way. One win down, 15 to go to give the Rangers their first Stanley Cup championship in 20 years -- which in Rangers history is not all that long since Richter and the 1994 squad led by Mark Messier ended a 54-year drought. "Everybody wants to be known as a winner," Vigneault said. "Hank is one of the best goaltenders in the league, and his stats are there to back it up." By all accounts, the 32-year-old Lundqvist is a driven hard worker, relentless in preparation and desire to be the best. "His No. 1 quality is how hard he competes and how much he wants to win," Vigneault said. "You can tell every time he steps on the ice -- practices, games -- the focus that he has, the amount of internal pressure he puts on himself to always be at a high level. "The standards that he puts on himself are as high as any player that I have ever coached. That is why he has been in the elite goaltenders for the past 10 years." When he arrived from Sweden at 23, Lundqvist embraced the pressure of playing in New York and thrived on it, reveling in the citys culture. He is a model of consistency and might already have enough credentials to ensure his jersey will be lifted to the Madison Square Garden rafters next to Richters even if he doesnt deliver that championship. "The passion that I have for this gamee and trying to get better and the emotions you feel when you play is something you live for," Lundqvist said. Caleb Swanigan Jersey. "Those moments when you win a big game I cant compare to anything else I have in my life when it comes to the adrenaline, the pressure, the excitement. "You have moments throughout games and throughout seasons of where youre like, Wow. This is why I play. You dont feel that every day. You dont feel that always, but you have moments where you realize its all worth it." Lundqvist has 309 career regular-season wins and 50 shutouts. He is also the first goalie to reach at least 30 wins in eight of his first nine NHL seasons. Lundqvist was chosen by the Rangers in the seventh round of the 2000 NHL draft -- pick No. 205 -- when he was just 18. He remained in his native Sweden for the next several years and joined the Rangers for the first time in the 2005-06 season, making his NHL debut against Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils. "Your mindset is just to establish yourself, and fighting for your life almost every day and try to prove yourself because they dont really know what Ive done in Sweden for five years," Lundqvist said. "They dont really care what Ive done. Its about here and its about now. "It probably took me a couple of years before I felt comfortable and I knew that I had my role here." He stood out right away to John Davidson, a former Rangers goalie who backstopped the team to the 1979 Stanley Cup finals and then became a television analyst from 1986-2006. He broadcast games throughout Richters entire career and into the early stages of Lundqvists. "I didnt know a lot about him, but I remember when he came to the Rangers practice facility," said Davidson, now the president of hockey operations for the Columbus Blue Jackets. "I was standing on the glass the first day of camp, and I walked away three or four minutes after and I said, Theres the goalie. "He was polished. His work habits were exceptional. 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