| 16 February 2010
The video above is Joakim Noah talking about how he felt after practice yesterday. From what he's saying, it's hard to really gauge where he's at. He's saying that he's alright, and he expects to play, but clearly he's not 100%. Obviously, the Bulls management is going to be cautious about it, because the Tribune is reporting that Noah is about to miss his 5th straight game tonight. The Bulls have 4 games in 5 nights, so it looks they may shut him down for these 4 games and let him ease his way back afterward. Luckily, the Bulls should manage just fine without him considering their next 6 games are against the Knicks, Knicks, T-Wolves, Sixers, Pacers, and Wizards. A relatively easy stretch, but a crucial one that the Bulls need to take advantage of for playoff positioning. They should be able to handle it without Noah, but these games that should be a "cake-walk" become that much tougher without him. And the reason these games are so crucial is because later in the season when you're playing the good teams, you're not even close to guaranteed to win with Noah even at 100%. It's kind of an unfortunate situation right now, but hopefully the Bulls can pull through this stretch against the poor teams.
On a lighter note, Derrick Rose is returning, although he also is still sore with an ailing hip and back. But it's a bruise, so Derrick should be 100% in about a week I would guess. The Bulls have the Knicks tonight and tomorrow night. I haven't decided which day I'm going to do a game-preview, but I might do both (even though that seems kind of monotonous). More to come...
