Joakim Noah Put The Bulls On His Back Last Night

Big Cat4/23/2013 2:10 PM

Is Joakim Noah the most liked athlete in Chicago right now? I sort of think he is. Last night was just a classic Jo game. Playing on 1 foot. Limited minutes. Must win. Game slipping away in the 4th and he basically wills the entire team to a victory. Key buckets, big rebounds, hustling harder than anyone on the court by a landslide, the total package. And look, I get it, this season is obviously not going anywhere, with or without D-Rose beating Miami just isn’t in the cards, but even with that knowledge you still want to see your team fight, to play as hard as they can, to give you a glimmering hope of an upset, and with Joakim Noah on the court that is never in question. He just never quits. And if you didn’t watch the game and pulled up the box score you would have no idea. 11, 10 and 3. Seems like a totally average game. Far from it. That 4th quarter was Noah putting the team on his back and I for one could not be happier to root for a guy like that. A guy that visually wants it more. That cares more than the fans. That brings passion every single night. Absolutely love it.

Other Game Notes

-This was the other classic Noah play. Nets on a run. Bulls without any momentum. Jo taking it hard to the rack when the team was in one of those classic offensive droughts.

-Watching the adjustments Thibs makes from game to game is awesome. Game 1 we get obliterated in the paint. Game 2 the Nets can’t even sniff a short jumper or layup. Basically dared the Nets to beat us with the 3. Ended up 4-21. Best coach in the league not named Greg Poppovich.

– Brooklyn with the DEEEEEEP V. Killer look bro.

-If Joakim won that game for the bulls Kirk Hinrich wasn’t too far behind. He absolutely OWNED Deron Williams. All over him all night. Forced him into 1-9 shooting and played some of the best 1 on 1 Defense I have seen him play in a long time.

-D-Rose. I don’t want to talk about D-Rose. I want to talk about the guys on the court. I’m at the point where I’m just trying to ignore it all together and when he’s back he’s back. But that little 1 minute piece Rachel Nichols did about how great of a cheerleader D-Rose is made me want to gouge my eyes out. Thanks Rachel. Thanks for letting me know that Derrick has been great at clapping. That’s really what we all wanted to hear.