It's not enough that the Bulls are losing in the playoffs to a bad team. It's insulting, in fact. Especially when Coach Tom Thibodeau still insists on saying "we have more than enough to win" after Friday night's Game 3 loss to the Sixers.
But, to add another devastating injury to the mix is utterly disheartening.
Joakim Noah left the game in the third quarter with a sprained left ankle. He tried to return to game action and played briefly but hobbled so badly it was brutal to watch. It will go down as either the gutsiest moment of the playoffs or the dumbest move ever as he risked further injury to the ankle.
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It's just the latest blow to the Bulls who have dealt with one bad injury after another this season. If Derrick Rose is the soul of the team, Noah is it's heart. Now, down 2-1 in the series, the Bulls resemble characters from the "Wizard of Oz."
The entire team seems to be looking for courage and heart to somehow fight their way back in this series. But they don't need to go all the way to Oz. Maybe they need only look to the other end of the floor. The Sixers seem to have stolen much of the strength and will to win that have been a familiar part of the Bulls modus operandi, but seems to have completely disappeared.
Thibodeau is the brains behind the team. The Wizard has nothing on Thibs who won Coach of the Year honors last season and finished runner-up in the voting this year. Why, then, didn't he know better than to put Noah back in the game, and why can't he find the right rotation in the fourth quarter to close it out?
Nobody wants to be Dorothy here. Nobody wants to go home after Round 1.
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With this latest collapse and the injury to Noah, I can't help but think there's a wicked witch out there messing with the Bulls' playoff hopes. Like Glinda advises in 'Oz, you have to find it within yourself to get what you want. The Bulls need to dig deep now, follow the yellow brick road or risk staying on this path that leads them nowhere.