Sunday, May 1, 2011Posted: 3:10 PM
By Aggrey Sam
CSNChicago.com
Hell be ready to go, claimed Joakim Noah when asked about the status of his teammate, Carlos Boozer, after the Bulls Sunday afternoon practice at the Berto Center.
For sure, added Derrick Rose. Hes going to play in that game Mondays Game 1 of Chicagos Eastern Conference semifinal series against Atlanta.
While he declined to talk to reporters, Boozer participatedreportedly on a limited basisin his first practice since suffering a turf-toe injury in the Bulls Game 5 first-round win over the Pacers. Prior to Sunday, Boozer had only been lifting weights, but hadnt spent any time on the court, with the exception of some light individual shooting.
Hes going to be good," Rose said. "From looking at film, watching film on him, seeing how in some of the games, how aggressive he was and thats all we try to tell him to do, is be aggressive while hes on the court and just play his game.
"Hes been in this league long enough where hell be able to get himself out of a little slump. Hes still coming in, talking, shooting the ball, doing his routine and nothing has changed.
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While the Bulls expect Boozer to play in the teams second-round opener MondayChicago head coach Tom Thibodeau hasnt decided whether Taj Gibson or Kurt Thomas would start if he didnt playthey could be facing a short-handed opponent. Former Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich, Atlantas starting point guard, is listed as doubtful with a strained right hamstring, which he suffered late in the Hawks Game 6 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Knowing that he was my veteran and I was his rook, yeah, I feel bad about the injury, but Im sorry to say that Im just worried about whats going on over here, said Derrick Rose of his former backcourt mate.
Chimed in Noah: I wish Kirk nothing but the best. Obviously Ive been there. Its tough to be in that position, to be injured.
If Hinrich is limited or out for the series, candidates to replace him include second-year point guard Jeff Teague and another former Bull, sixth man Jamal Crawford, who led the team in scoring in the Orlando series. Teague received scant playing time against Orlando and has been generally out of first-year head coach Larry Drews rotation since Atlanta acquired Hinrich from Washington at the trade deadline.
They have quality depth. Crawford has played a lot of minutes. Teague has played extremely well when hes been in their rotation, said Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau after Saturdays practice. Joe Johnson has the ability to handle the ball and make plays. Theyve got a lot of depth in their backcourt and their perimeter guys are really skilled, so youve got to be ready for everybody.
At the end of games, the ball is primarily in Joe Johnsons hands or Jamal Crawfords hands, so their end-of-game stuff will be exactly the same. But they also have Marvin Williams, who didnt play quite as much as he normally does because of the matchup that they had with Orlando, so now hes back on the floor. Theyve got a lot of weapons they can throw at you and I think Teague is really a good player also, so theyre fortunate to have that type of depth at the point-guard position.
Added Rose: It doesnt change at all. Weve got to go out there and play. Teague or whoever starts out there in his spot, theyre good players. Jamal, you know hes a scorer, keeps them going, keeps them in games and theyre a real athletic team with a lot of spots where they can change pick-and-rolls.
Crawford is tough. One of the best scorers in the league. Every team that he goes on, he knows his role, which is to score the ball. If anything, try to stick him as a team and make everything tough on him.
While Crawford is capable of handling the point, hes more of a designated instant-offense scorer for the Hawks, as evidenced by his team-leading scoring average against the Magic. Both Johnson and Crawford often play one-on-one, isolation-type basketball within the Hawks sets and although they have decent court vision, neither is known for their playmaking ability.
Overall, the Hawks have proved to be an inconsistent squad, capable of looking like world-beaters and lottery-bound in consecutive games. After surrendering a huge halftime lead in the two teams first matchup, Chicago dominated Atlanta in their final two meetings. But the Bulls still believe the Hawks will give them a battle in the second round.
Its going to be a tough series. Theyre a good team, they play hard together and theyve got everything going for them right now, Rose explained. I think its going to be tougher than the first-round series against Indiana. Theyve got guys that can really jump and contest my shot. Really big guys like Zaza Pachulia, Al Horford are tough players.
Its all confidence. They play the same way, but they believe that they can win games, that they can go far and when youve got everybody on a team believing that, its hard to slow a team down, he continued. Theyre playing with confidence. They let a team sweep them the previous year, then to come out and play against that team and beat them in a series, it means a lot. Theyre playing with a lot of confidence, they believe in each other and they believe they can win."
Concurred Thibodeau: The regular season, theres a lot of things that go into that, so you have to judge it by a how a team is playing right now. Not that youre not looking at the matchup in those games, but youre looking at how theyre performing right now and thats what weve got to be ready for. Theyre playing at a very high level right now.
During the Orlando series, the Hawks started backup Jason Collins at center, pushing Horford to power forward and Josh Smith to small forward, in order to better defend All-Star center Dwight Howard, who was defended one-on-one by Collins and other reserves. Although it's unlikely Atlanta will use the same lineup, the Bulls are preparing for all possibilities, including Hinrichs absence, Horfords interior scoring and the Hawks ability to switch matchups with their long, athletic and versatile defenders.
Youre trying to clean up some of the things that you need to work on and youre preparing for your opponent, said Thibodeau, who said he believes Atlanta will most likely go back to starting Marvin Williams at small forward. That was the matchup that they used for Howard, but we have to be ready for them to go big or go small, so I think the plan is to plan for both.
Theyve done less of that switching on defense this year, but they still have the capability of doing that at the two, three and four, so you have your counters to attack it. Putting different people into pick-and-rolls to negate it. You can also create the mismatch that you want. Youve just got to have the ability to read those defenses.
Thibodeau is worried about Horford in particular.
"His athleticism, his ability to run the floor, his activity on the offensive boards, his ability to shoot the 15 to 17-foot shothes a hard guy to match up with," he said. "I think because of the skill set of Joe Johnson and Crawford, that puts a lot of pressure on you, so you have to have a multiple-effort mentality. When we do give help, we have to make sure we get back to him and we dont give him clean looks at the basket. We just have to help appropriately.
Atlanta is regarded as more of a finesse team than the physical young Pacers, but the Bulls wont be surprised if the Hawks opt to utilize a similar strategy.
Thats playoff basketball," Thibodeau said. "Theres also a price to pay for that. We shot a lot of free throws. We shot it at a very good percentage. We got into the penalty early in the fourth quarter. Whenever you put two on the ballwhich they really didnt do until the fourth quarterbut that was also our best quarter. Youve got to be ready for everything. it could be size on him, they could be physical. Its nothing that we havent seen. Youve got to be ready to fight. These playoff games, theyre not going to be easy. Theyre going to be tough, hard-fought games.
Echoed Noah: I expect it to be very physical.
This is the time of year where theres not a lot of teams lefttheres only eight teams leftthis is what its all about. Everybody on the court only wants one thing and thats a championship.
Aggrey Sam is CSNChicago.com's Bulls Insider. Follow him @CSNBullsInsider on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bulls information and his take on the team, the NBA and much more.