Turf toe hurts. A lot.
But Carlos Boozer plans to play through it and will be on the court when the Bulls start their second round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks Monday night at the United Center. That according to Aggrey Sam with CSN Chicago.“The toe is feeling a lot better. I’ve got a lot of treatment the last few days and as long as it’s feels good tonight, I’ll be out there,” said Boozer after Monday morning’s shootaround at the Berto Center. “It’s very painful just to step on it, but we’ve been able to calm it down.
“It’s the playoffs, so if I’m going to be out there, I’m going to be out there.”
If this were a regular season game Boozer would be sitting, but it’s the playoffs so you suck it up and get out there. Look for his minutes to be limited, although he can provide some key help in this series.
The Hawks big men Al Horford (always) and Josh Smith (sometimes) can be good help defenders. When Derrick Rose slashes to the hoop one of them cannot help off of Boozer (Smith likely will have him first), and Boozer’s range can draw that defender away from the hoop. Just something to watch as Rose is good at finding and hitting the man being helped off of (Noah could have a good series because of it).