Somewhere in the airspace between the court and the rim, there was that ‘‘Coach isn’t gonna like this’’ moment.

But Nate Robinson has to be Nate Robinson.

So rather than take an uncontested layup midway through the second quarter of the Bulls’ preseason game Tuesday against the Milwaukee Bucks, Robinson threw the ball off the glass to teammate Jimmy Butler for an easy dunk.

What Robinson was Tuesday against the Bucks was the entire package. He scored 24 points, handed out 13 assists and had two steals. More important, as far as Thibodeau was concerned, he didn’t commit a turnover.

‘‘He’s put a lot of work into it,’’ Thibodeau said of Robinson taking care of the ball. ‘‘He made another step [Tuesday]. I thought he was really under control, did a great job running the team, hit shots. But we have a long way to go. We still have a lot of things to clean up.’’

Robinson has heard it all and said there was more fiction than fact about him floating around out there.

‘‘Google can’t define me, man,’’ Robinson said. ‘‘My mom, my kids, my family, I really don’t care what anyone else says about me, what they think about me. I know who I am inside, and that’s all that matters.

via Joe Cowley of the Sun Times