It's fitting that the Bulls arrive at their regular season's halfway point Friday night against the Celtics in Boston because they recently have reached a crossroads.
Coach Tom Thibodeau said as much after Monday night's dismal home loss to the Magic, which preceded Wednesday night's second-half collapse against the Wizards. They are coming off four losses in five games, and the Celtics are one of five sub-.500 teams that have beaten the Bulls at the United Cente
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The good news for the Chicago Bulls is that Derrick Rose broke out of a slump Wednesday; the bad news is that it couldn't prevent the Bulls' fourth loss in five games and second to the Washington Wizards in a one-week stretch.
The Chicago Bulls could be without Joakim Noah for an extended period, after the high-energy center left Wednesday night’s loss to the Washington Wizards with a sprained right ankle.
Noah was seen leaving the United Center wearing a walking boot, though the team didn’t yet know how long the injury could keep him out. The Chicago Bulls take on the Boston Celtics on Friday, and Bulls guard Derrick Rose said losing Noah could be a tough blow
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It's uncertain if Joakim Noah will be available as the visiting Bulls try to avoid a season-high third straight defeat and take the season series with the Boston Celtics on Friday night.
After averaging 103.7 points and allowing 96.5 per game in winning 13 of 15, Chicago (26-14) has scored 94.2 per contest while yielding an average of 102.4 in losing four of five. Derrick Rose had a season-high 32 points, but the Bulls allowed Washington to shoot 51.3 percent during a 105-99 home defeat Wednesday.
While Rose isn't ready to panic, the road to recovery could get rockier if Noah misses a significant amount of time after turning his right ankle Wednesday. Though Noah's averaging 7.6 points and 9.4 boards after setting career-highs of 12.6 and 11.3 rebounds last season, he remains the team's vocal and emotional leader and is still a solid inside presence along with Pau Gasol.
Coach Tom Thibodeau isn't sure how serious the latest setback might be for Noah, who missed four straight games with an injury to the same ankle last month.
"We'll see where he is,'' said Thibodeau, whose team also could be without veteran Mike Dunleavy for an eighth straight game with an ankle injury.
"It's tough to build continuity that way when you have guys in and out," Thibodeau told the Bulls' official website. "That's our reality; we have to figure it out, we have to deal with it.
"We still have to find a way to win. We can't hang our heads and we can't make excuses. We've just got to find a way to win."
Rose (17.5 ppg) is doing his part while going 20 of 37 from the floor in the last two games and averaging 23.0 points in his last three.
After sitting out Chicago's 106-101 home loss to the Celtics (13-24) on Nov. 8, Rose hit half of his 18 shots to finish with 21 points in a 109-102 win at Boston on Nov. 28. He scored 12 while Gasol had 29 and 16 boards in a 109-104 overtime home victory over the Celtics on Jan. 3.
Gasol, who totaled 74 points with 32 boards in two games prior to finishing with 13 and eight Wednesday, has averaged 21.0 points and 13.3 rebounds against the Celtics this season.
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