Joakim Noah reminds Bulls of his value

In one flash Saturday night, Joakim Noah showed what he can bring to the Bulls when he gets his chance.

With the Bulls leading by two points early in the fourth quarter, Noah was guarded above the 3-point line by New Orleans Pelicans superstar Anthony Davis. Noah pivoted to his right and blew by Davis, finishing with a thunderous one-handed dunk that was punctuated by a loud and primal scream.

It was vintage Noah, and the Bulls noticed.

“The play he drove around Davis and dunked it I thought he was going to run in the crowd and start chest-bumping people but that’s what you need,” coach Fred Hoiberg said Saturday. “That’s what you need when you’re going through the type of game that we had, is you need a guy to pick up the overall energy of the team. He was coming over to the bench and he was yelling and screaming and foaming at the mouth.

“It was awesome. It’s exactly what we needed at that time of the game.”

Doug McDermott said Noah “gets me hyped up for sure.” There was one play in particular he mentioned.

“When he had the drive to the basket with the dunk I haven’t seen that since I’ve been here the last two years,” McDermott said Saturday. “That really got me excited and he’s really fun to play with.”

Of course, moments like that have been rare for Noah this season.

Before playing 29:33 on Saturday against the Pelicans, Noah was averaging 21.4 minutes per game. Saturday was the second-most minutes he’s played this season, and it was one of his most impactful nights during a season when his playing time has been cut.

“It’s not one of those things I can control, so I’m just trying to make the most of what I have,” Noah said Saturday of his playing time.

Noah has clicked with the second unit and at practice Sunday, Hoiberg didn’t sound inclined to break up the bench by moving the veteran center into the starting lineup. But that doesn’t mean he can be a quiet player, or that the Bulls can improve without a contribution from Noah, especially when he can bring the spark they need.

They certainly got it Saturday when he scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds and played the crunch-time minutes he’s used to. It’s a contribution Derrick Rose valued during a game the Bulls once trailed by 14.

“Especially when it’s somebody that’s one of the leaders on this team plays well,” Rose said Saturday. “We need his confidence to be up. We need him to play the way that he played tonight, and tonight was a big win especially being down so much.”

If not for Noah, Saturday could have been an embarrassing loss. New Orleans was without Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson and Quincy Pondexter and fell to 6-17 despite opening the early lead.

Noah, doing a lot of what he’s known for doing, helped the Bulls grind out the win.

“Energy. Rebounding. Leadership as far as coming over to the bench, making sure guys were focused on certain plays,” Rose said. “He showed a lot tonight as far he was moving well.”

And maybe that could lead to more playing time.

“Everybody wants minutes,” Noah said. “It’s no secret in the NBA that everybody wants minutes.”