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Hinrich to be suspended one game

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Mar 13

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The NBA is suspending Kirk Hinrich one game for bumping referee Bennie Adams in Friday’s loss to Miami.

He will miss Tuesday’s game in Memphis. The league announced the decision Saturday afternoon.

Hinrich was ejected with a second technical foul after objecting to a flagrant foul call against Brad Miller on Dwyane Wade. Miller also drew a technical after coach Vinny Del Negro earlier in the game was assessed a technical foul.

The Bulls are hoping Derrick Rose with a wrist injury and Luol Deng with a calf injury will be able to return for the trip to Memphis and Dallas. Joakim Noah has been practicing with his plantar fasciitis and the Bulls plan to extend his workouts this week, but he is not expected to play for at least another week.

The Bulls started Jannero Pargo for Rose Friday. If Rose cannot play, it’s assumed Pargo starts again at point guard and Flip Murray at shooting guard as Murray has been first guard off the bench. James Johnson is coming off his best game as a pro, a career high 20 points, and he has the offensive abilities to play in the backcourt, if necessary.

The Bulls were hopeful Hinrich wouldn’t be suspended as coach Vinny Del Negro said after the game Hinrich inadvertantly walked into the referee.

The referee stopped,” said Del Negro. “That’s the only reason he bumped him. I was right there. He was walking toward him and the referee was walking away and the referee turned and walked toward him. And they bumped. Kirk wasn’t going to bump him. There was some contact, but it was because the referee stopped right in front of him.

“You’re playing in the game, competing, and you’re playing hard and trying to get back in it and you’re not pleased with the outcome of some of those decisions,” Del Negro said about the late outburst of frustration as Miami attempted 15 more free throws and the Bulls felt Miami was allowed leeway to play physically while the Bulls were not. “You’ve got to battle through it. You have to keep your emotions in check, but you also have to battle hard and be the aggressor.”

Rookie Taj Gibson also felt victimized by what he believed were cheap shots by Wade, who later in the Heat locker room said “Brad should stop whining” about questioning foul calls and the Bulls being shorthanded as the Heat was shorthanded as well with Michael Beasley and Dorrell Wright out.

The ref flinched and he flinched into Kirk both times,” Gibson said. “Kirk’s a good guy. He just went up to him to see what was going on. That’s what he normally does (as captain). When he went up to him the ref flinched because he thought someone was going to tackle him.

“Dwyane undercut me and I was (upset) because rhe refreee saw it and he just asked me, ‘Are you OK.’ I was like “Am I OK?'” related Gibson.”I was just (upset), but I learned to control my anger,” said Gibson. “I’m a rookie. I’m not gojg to explode on anyone. I felt like exploding on him because that was a dangerous play. The play was over and he ran up on me. We played a physical, tough game. Calls were tough on us. It took the fun out of the game. It’s the NBA. You try to keep playing and hope they see the tape and try to make it better.”

That makes it consecutive games it seemed there were some unnecessary blows against Bulls players from Dwight Howard’s knockdown of Rose that caused his sprained wrist to Wade’s shot at Gibson with Miller coming back to protect his teammate.So the Bulls did fight back, and the hope is it carries over with one more tough week on the schedule with

Memphis and Dallas on the road and then home to play Cleveland. Then it’s Philadelphia, Houston, Miami, the Nets. Pistons and Suns to end March. By then the Bulls should have a pretty good idea if the April games against Charlotte twice, Milwaukee and Toronto will have any significance toward making the playoffs.

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