Bulls need Joakim Noah to be 'huge' again vs. Wizards
CHICAGO — Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau and big man Joakim Noah have a perfect love-hate relationship.
"What I love about Thibs is there's nothing fake about him. He's going to keep it real no matter what. He wants to win more than anybody," Noah, who won the NBA defensive player of the year award on Monday, told USA TODAY Sports.
"I remember telling him, 'If we weren't winning games, I'd really, really hate you.' He said, 'Trust me, I feel the same about you.' "
The Bulls won enough games, 48, to secure homecourt advantage in this month's playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference despite losing Derrick Rose to injury again and trading Luol Deng.
"We were up against it this year, and he didn't let it fall apart," Thibodeau said of Noah. "That was huge for our team."
But now the pressure is on for Chicago to respond after a Game 1 playoff loss to the fifth-seeded Washington Wizards, a team with plenty of offensive weapons to confound the Bulls' signature hard-nosed defense. The Bulls host the Wizards for Game 2 on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. ET (TNT).
Chicago will need Noah to play like the defensive juggernaut he's been all season to bounce back and take control of the series. The 6-11 All-Star, who heard "MVP" chants at the United Center on Sunday, had his normal energy, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds but didn't provide the defensive boost Chicago needed in the paint. Noah has been grieving the loss of mentor Tyrone Green, his "second father."
Noah and rest of Chicago's interior players didn't have an answer for Nene, who finished with 24 points and eight rebounds in Game 1. And Washington center Marcin Gortat added 15 points and 13 rebounds.
"We're going to have to make adjustments," Noah said. "Overall we have to play with better energy. They're a very talented team with a lot of talented players."
John Wall, who had 16 points in his first-ever playoff game, said Noah impacts the game in ways that don't necessarily show up in the stat sheet — namely his ability to stay in front of guards and frustrate them off pick-and-roll switches.
"He's that type of guy that you hate to play against but you'd love to have on your team," Wall said.
After the loss Sunday, Thibodeau expressed confidently that his team could "play much better." As far as adjustments go, the defensively-minded coach doesn't expect to shuffle the lineup.
"We're not going to get away from the guys who got us here," he said.
In Game 1, the Bulls controlled the tempo for much of the game until the Wizards took over the momentum in the fourth quarter after clawing back from a 13-point deficit. In Game 2, the focus will be on keeping their foot on the gas.
"All the mistakes we made are correctable," Jimmy Butler said. "We just let them back into it (in Game 1). We just have to guard the ball and make shots. If we do that, and get back on defense and rebound, we'll be fine."