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CHICAGO -- Taj Gibson led five players in double figures with 23 points and the Chicago Bulls brushed off a poor offensive first half to rally for an 89-77 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night. Kirk Hinrich had 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting, Mike Dunleavy scored 13, Jimmy Butler 12 and Joakim Noah added 10 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Gibson, who was 9 for 15 from the field, also had eight rebounds in 32 minutes off the bench. The Bulls (40-31) pulled within two percentage points of Toronto (39-30) for third place in the Eastern Conference. The win also prevented Indiana from clinching the Central Division title on Chicagos home court. The Pacers are looking to win consecutive division crowns for the second time since joining the NBA (1998-99 and 1999-2000). The Pacers, who were led by Paul Georges 21 points, have dropped three straight and six of eight on the road. Theyve lost four of five at the United Center, including both visits this season. The Pacers earned a 91-79 victory over the Bulls on Friday night at Indiana. With the NBAs top two defensive teams on the court, points figured to come at a premium, and that certainly was the case in the first half. Neither team managed to score 20 in either of the first two quarters, and the Pacers took a 34-33 halftime lead when George Hill (12 first-half points) hit a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left. The Bulls were 14 of 44 (31.8 per cent) from the field in the first half, including 1 for 10 on 3-pointers. Perhaps the most entertaining portion of the half came when the crowd got on Pacers centre Roy Hibbert for an apparent flop, a hot topic between the teams in recent days. On the play, Hibbert was fouled by Noah as he was beginning to go up for a shot attempt. While there definitely was enough contact to warrant a foul, it appeared to be light. Hibbert, though, dropped to the court flailing as if he had been hit by a flagrant foul. After the replay was shown on the scoreboard, the crowd began to boo. Noah stood off to the side with a big grin on his face. Following Fridays game in Indiana, Gibson accused the Pacers of flopping, and it was still the topic of conversation at the morning shootaround for both teams. "I mean, I havent taken a charge in probably four years," Hibbert said at the shootaround. "Hes entitled to his opinion. Im just going to go out there and play hard." The Bulls finally got into an offensive rhythm in the third quarter, starting the second half with a 16-5 run to take a 49-39 lead. A few minutes later, Indiana had cut the lead to 55-49 and George had the ball on a fast break ahead of the field. Hinrich, though, caught him from behind and looked as if he was going to give an intentional foul. Instead, Hinrich stripped the ball and the Bulls headed in the opposite direction as George complained that he was fouled. The Bulls completed the four-point swing on Gibsons dunk to make it 57-49 with just more than 4 minutes left in the third quarter. The Bulls took a 64-56 lead into the fourth after scoring 31 points in the third. They had balanced scoring in the quarter with Dunleavy and Hinrich each tallying seven points. Carlos Boozer, Butler and Gibson added five apiece. The Bulls were never seriously threatened in the fourth and held on for a relatively comfortable win. NOTES: The Bulls posted a 110-94 victory in Indianas only previous visit to the United Center this season on Nov.16. Indiana won both games at home as the teams split the season series. ... Pacers coach Frank Vogel when asked if Hibbert was the NBA Defensive Player of the Year: "Hands down. Hes the best rim-protector on the best defence in the league. I think thats who the award should go to. Ill be very disappointed if he doesnt get the award this year." Hibberts main competition could be Noah, who received the endorsement of Rockets coach Kevin McHale a couple of weeks ago. . Former Bull C.J. Watson missed the game with a right hamstring strain. LeBron James Shoes Outlet .ca presents its latest weekly power rankings for the 2013-14 Barclays Premier League season. LeBron James Shoes Deals . The team announced that it exercised the options on 15 players including goalkeepers Evan Bush, Maxime Crepeau and Troy Perkins, defenders Matteo Ferrari, Karl W. https://www.cheapshoeslebronjames.com/. The (11-11-4) Jets are seventh in the Central Division with 26 points. Fifth place Dallas and sixth-seeded Nashville also have 26 points, but the Stars have three games in hand on Winnipeg while Nashville has two. Cheap LeBron James Shoes . Coach Jorge Sampaoli resisted naming any major surprises in the list published Tuesday at the site of Chiles football association. Chile is pinning its hopes on the recovery of Vidal. 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Now Arizonas new manager is hoping Yasmany Tomas can have the same effect on the Diamondbacks.ENGLEWOOD, Colo. - John Elway broke the mould.The Denver Broncos general manager bucked this years trend when he hired his former backup QB and offensive co-ordinator Gary Kubiak as his head coach.Every other head coach vacancy thats been filled has gone to men with defensive roots: John Fox in Chicago, Jack Del Rio in Oakland, Jim Tomsula in San Francisco, Rex Ryan in Buffalo and Todd Bowles with the Jets.Oddly, every one of those teams also had trouble on offence in 2014.So did the Falcons, the only head coaching vacancy that hasnt been filled.It appears that offensive co-ordinators Josh McDaniels of New England and Adam Gase, Peyton Mannings co-architect in Denver, will have to keep waiting as defensive co-ordinators Dan Quinn of Seattle and Detroits Teryl Austin are the only candidates to get follow-up interviews with the Falcons.If Quinn is the choice, the Falcons will have to wait to offer him the job until after Seattle plays New England in the Super Bowl on Feb. 1.Quinns star rose with the Seahawks 43-8 walloping of Elways Broncos in last years Super Bowl, something NFL Network analyst Terrell Davis believes has driven this defensive shift, along with the aerial fireworks show the league has become.One, you look at who won the Super Bowl last year. Theyve got a formula people want, Davis said. Theyve got a good quarterback and their offence was good; it just wasnt as good as their defence. If you have a good defence, you can mask a lot of deficiencies on offence. And two, it really is about offences in this league and if you can stop them.Then again, Davis said, it could just be coincidence.Maybe it just happens to be the best candidates are defensive coaches, Davis said.Theres no ambiguity about it, insisted former NFL executive and current ESPN analyst Bill Polian.Each hire, each situation is different. Thats one part of the puzzle, Polian said. The second part is the pool of candidates is what it is. In any given year, you might have more people who come from the offensive side of the ball as opposed to the defensive. And third, anybody thats asked for my advice, I have said, Hire the best person regardless of orientation.Because what youre hiring is a head coach. Hes going to hire a defensive co-ordinator. Hes going to hire an offensive co-ordinator. Theyre the ones that are going to determine largely the scheme. So, hire the best person whose philosophy of football fits how yyou want to operate.ddddddddddddThe only other factor that should come into the equation is previous head coaching experience, Polian said.That certainly burnished the resumes of Fox, Del Rio and Ryan. Fox was 49-22 in four seasons in Denver even though the Broncos came up short in the playoffs each year.Guys who have been a successful head coach before, theres probably something to be said for that, Polian said.New Bills owner Terry Pegula said experience was the tilting factor in Ryans hiring. In San Francisco, it came down to Tomsula or Gase, but the deciding factor wasnt their backgrounds, CEO Jed York said.Youre not the head coach of the defence. Youre not the head coach of the offence, York said. Youre the head coach of the entire team.Interestingly, teams led by head coaches with offensive roots had an average rank of 16.1 in points per game this season to 16.0 for defensive coaches (excluding the Raiders, who switched mid-season from defensive to offensive). The season started with 16 offensive and 16 defensive coaches.So, there was essentially no difference in performance on average based on the expertise of the head coach.Yeah, if you want to use that metric, Polian said. When you use the word expertise of the coach, would you presume that Bill Belichick knows only defence? OK, so thats my point. If you hire a good coach, he understands both sides of the ball, how it fits, how he wants to do it, how it fits his personnel, etc. etc. Were hiring head coaches here, not co-ordinators.Raiders owner Mark Davis was initially looking for an offensive-minded coach to help quarterback Derek Carr develop, something he told Del Rio in their first conversation.And Jack said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, stop! I know about offence as well, Davis said.Labels dont matter when youre a head coach, Del Rio said, because if youre a defensive guy, quickly you become an offensive guy as well.He pointed to the two coaches who are in the Super Bowl.Bill Belichick was a defensive guy and hes doing a pretty good job with his offence, Del Rio said. Pete Carroll is a defensive guy in his background, but hes doing a pretty good job up there in Seattle with their offence and with their team. So, I think when you hire a head coach, you get that — you get a head coach.___AP Sports Writers Josh Dubow, John Wawrow and Janie McCauley contributed.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '