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Chicago's Nocioni won't back down on prediction

Andres Nocioni wasn't backing down because, well, that's just not his style.

Chicago took three of four games from the Detroit Pistons during the NBA regular season and the Bulls forward predicted this week his team would win the second-round series in seven games.

It was enough to tweak Detroit -- something Nocioni tends to do, whether he means it or not.

"They've got to go out there and do it," Detroit's Rasheed Wallace said on Thursday. "If they do it, then hat's off. It's going to be a fight, I'll tell you that."

And Nocioni wasn't backing away.

"Of course, why not [predict a win]?" Nocioni said with an innocence that belies a white-hot intensity. "I think we have great, talented guys. I think we play great `D.' I have a lot of confidence, man. We need to play, that's it."

By the time they meet the Pistons today, nearly a week will have passed since the Bulls finished off their first-round sweep of defending champion Miami and Nocioni is antsy. No surprise, considering how hyperactive the Argentine star is.

That energy, that frenzied style, endears him to teammates and Bulls fans while rankling opponents. It has led to a few heated exchanges, including one with Miami's Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem near the end of the 2004-2005 regular season. Nocioni also served a one-game suspension for elbowing New Jersey's Mikki Moore in January.

"I don't think Noc will hurt someone," Bulls forward Luol Deng said. "That's not on his mind."

Nocioni provided a boost for the Bulls in the first round, even though he missed 28 of 29 games late in the regular season because of plantar fasciitis in the right foot and strained his right quadriceps attempting a reverse layup in Game 3 against Miami.

The cure for the foot problem was rest, but Nocioni said it feels fine when he plays, that the problem comes when he cools down.
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