Top-seeded Bulls not done yet

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Sunday, April 10, 2011
Posted: 10:02 a.m.

By Aggrey Sam
CSNChicago.com

ORLANDOTheyre not done yet. Typically, a team thats locked into the top seed in the postseasonlet alone a team just guarantee of making the playoffs, periodwould go into shutdown mode now, with just three games left in the regular season. Not the Chicago Bulls.

Its a goal that we quietly had, said Carlos Boozer, adding, We have other goals, too. But were not done with the Spurs.

One game behind league-leading San Antonio in the loss column for the NBAs best overall record and home-court advantage throughout the entire playoffs, the Bulls plan to continue to go full throttle Saturday against the Magic, as well as for the foreseeable regular-season future, according to Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau.

Were just looking at the next game, explained the NBAs Coach of the Year award candidate. We want to stay consistent with what were doing.

You want them to be in rhythm and you want everyone playing their best. As the season winds down, the two things youre focused on is you want to be playing your best basketball and you want to be healthy, so if someones injured, well sit them down. If theyre not injured, theyre going to play, continued Thibodeau, who prepared just as seriously for Saturdays opponent, Orlandomissing All-Star center Dwight Howard, who was suspended for incurring his 18th technical foul of the seasonas he did for last Thursdays big win over the Celtics or last Fridays top-seed-clinching victory over the Cavaliers.

"The teams Ive been with, thats the way weve always approached it. You look at your team, you look at the make-up of your team and you determine how to pace your team. Thats one of the biggest things you have to think about all year long and you also do that when youre planning for your season.

Youre looking at can a guy handle minutes? Are they young? Are they old? Are they coming off injury? You look at all those things and then you look at how your teams functioning and playing. Sometimes you may feel that rest is more important, so you may not practice, but you have a film session, a meeting and a walk-through.

Or, as Joakim Noah put it, This is a dictatorship, guys.

All jokes aside, the Bulls dont chafe at Thibodeaus hard-driving ways because not only do they respect his decisions, but they actually want to play.

I really havent thought about it. If anything, I thought I was playing, so Im not disappointed or anything, said All-Star point guard Derrick Rose, in his usual, understated manner. Well have to see. Of course I want to play. Its not up to me. Its up to Coach.

Thats fine with me.

That mentality is what got them to this pointEastern Conference regular-season champions, a meaningless title if they dont augment it with a strong postseason showingbut if all goes according to plan, this is just another item on their checklist.

Thats the last goal of the regular season. We had a lot of goals. Weve checked off a lot of them, but thats the last one, said Kyle Korver. We had a lot to prove and I think weve worked really hard, weve put a lot into it and to be rewarded with this is big for us.

Were still going to try to catch the Spurs and were not done yet, but I think it speaks a lot about this team and the year that weve had.

Still, for the Bulls who were here for the past regime, they do feel a sense of accomplishment that stems from past mediocrity.

This is the best season Ive had in the NBA with the team and Im just proud that Im still here, and for the Chicago Bulls organization, said Luol Deng, the longest-tenured player on the team. Im a big believer that everything happens for a reason. I never want to go through struggles, so its all about how youre handling how youre coming out of those struggles. Thats what all makes it worth it and I believe Ive matured a lot as a man from what Ive seen and what I went through.

We want to be the best. We believe were capable of it, we put in work to try to be here and going into the postseason, thats going to be in the back of our minds.

Added Noahwho concurred with Thibodeaus sentiment that his right ankle is fine; I feel like Ive got a ways to go, but it feels good to be playing, he said after Fridays winabout the teams improvement: The growth has been formidable. Last year, we qualified on the last day and today, we are the No. 1 seed. That feels pretty good.

The 22-year-old Rose, in the midst of likely an MVP season, sounded determined to stay the course.

Weve got to keep playing good basketball and keep trying to get better, said the Chicago native. I know its definitely going to be different because everybodys going to be expecting us to win, but I think Thibs will have us ready for it.

It has something to do with the coaching staff. Thibs, man. Coach of the Year to me. Hes just been on us, holding everybody accountable every time we step on the court and with him, weve just been balling. Making sure that we go over everything and our preparation for the game is important, he continued. We took everybody by surprise. Thats from us winning games. It happened with the way that were playing under Thibs system. Its all because of him, giving us the opportunity to go out there and play. I think that were well-coached, but we can always get better.

While the first-year head coach and his staff have obviously been key to the teams success, its chemistry has also played a huge role.

In the beginning of the season, I told people that I thought we were going to be ready to play and thats what we showed this year. Were trying to keep playing, trying to stay humble, stay positive. Just trying to keep this thing going. Our fans have been great, traveling with us everywhere. Just bringing Chicago back, Rose explained.

We knew the guys that we were getting were guys that wanted to win. Thats what I always tell people. They dont care about their stats or anything. They just want to win games and its hard to be on a team like that, especially in the NBAwhere people have their own agenda, people have things going onbut were a very close team. We go out, anywhere to eat, whatever, theres five or six going out eating. Always calling each other, texting each other, BBMing texting via BlackBerry Messenger each other. Were pretty close on this team.

Communication, trusting each other and having confidence with each other, he went on to say. When youre on the court, the game is intense, even though it sounds like were yelling at each other sometimes, its nothing negative. Its just that were trying to win the game.

Whatever the formula, these Bulls need to stick to it. Who is anybody to doubt them at this point?

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.

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