Jimmy Butler scored a career-high 19 points in the Chicago Bulls' 93-85 victory over the Charlotte Bobcats.
Forward Luol Deng, who was out for five games because of a hamstring injury, returned with a haul of 12 points, which included two 3-pointers. Butler, who had raised his game in the absence of Deng, again displayed some nice skills, making seven out of 10 attempts from the floor against the Bobcats.
"I think it hit home the most when Luol came up to me and said, 'You can do this. This is your time, step in and keep playing the way you have been playing.'" The Associated Press quoted Butler as saying.
"When you hear that from an All-Star, from Derrick (Rose) and Jo (Joakim Noah) that's big. I have been here for almost two years now -- I think that's what I need to hear.
"The confidence comes from my teammates, if I have an off night then they're still going to be there supporting me ... It's not going to be like this every night but I have the best teammates, it makes it easy."
Butler had been outstanding during the last six games as he matched or set a career high score three times. Improvement is also visible in his defense.
"Jimmy is playing great for us right now," Deng said. "We need that. He just has to keep growing and get better.
"He plays so hard. He's been patient and he's been working hard on his game. I'm just so happy for him that because it takes time to understand the NBA game.
"There are still a lot of areas he can get better at but what he's shown so far is just his hard work and he's going to keep getting better."
For the Bulls, Nate Robinson added 15 points and chipped in seven rebounds while Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah scored 13 points apiece. Noah also had 18 rebounds and seven assists as the Bulls claimed their seventh victory in the last nine games.
For the Bobcats, Ben Gordon scored 18 points off the bench, Kemba Walker contributed with 18 points and six assists while Jeff Adrien added 14 points and chipped in 10 rebounds. Gerald Henderson finished with 10 points.
Chicago outscored the Bobcats 21-18 to take a three-point lead in the first quarter. They dominated the second quarter by scoring 28 points while stopping their opponents at 22 to extend their lead to nine points at the end of the first half.
The Bobcats fought back in the third quarter and outscored the Bulls 15-14, but they were still trailing by eight points at the end of the third period.
They had actually tied the game at 55 with the help of Walker's jumper, but after that the Bulls had a 13-0 run behind Robinson, who hit two 3-pointers and had a steal, to extend the lead to 68-55. Both the team scored 30 points apiece in the fourth quarter as the Bulls won the game by eight points.
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