Noah: ‘ D’ not tough enough
Injuries have hurt chemistry, led to lack of intensity
Hours before he was scratched from the starting lineup against the Charlotte Hornets for “general soreness,” Bulls center Joakim Noah pinpointed the Bulls’ problem— they’re not tough enough.
“In terms of the way we practice, that’s all been the same,” Noah said, when asked what improvements needed to made defensively. “I think we just have to be tougher. Whenwe play tough basketball, we’re tough to beat.”
The Bulls have only 10 games left in the season to get tough. That’s not exactly a trait you can turn on like a light switch. But Noah, who knows a little bit about defensive intensity and how it can be spread from one player to an entire team, is confident that it can be done.
“I still think we’re the toughest team to beat in a seven- game series,” Noah said after the shootaround at the United Center on Monday. “That being said, we have guys coming back. We have to work on our chemistry. [ Coach Tom Thibodeau’s] defense is predicated on five guys moving on both sides of the ball. Live and die by the contested two — that’s our philosophy. Hopefully we can get our defense to a higher level.”
Establishing a defensive identity — the hallmark of Thibodeau’s teams in his first four seasons as coach — has been a problem this season. The Bulls are 13th in defensive efficiency ( 102.1 points allowed per 100 possessions). Last year they were second ( 97.8). They were first, first and fifth in defensive efficiency in Thibodeau’s first three seasons.
Continuity is part of the blame. The Bulls are 15- 4 (. 789) when their starting lineup of Noah, Rose, Butler, Mike Dunleavy and Pau Gasol is intact. But it’s only been intact for 19 out of 72 games.
Noah missed his 13th game of the season. Rose has missed 26, Dunleavy 19 and Butler 16. The stalwart of the lineup is the 34- yearold Gasol ( 68 games played).
“We’ve never had as many missed games, missed practices, but that’s our reality,” Thibodeau said. “Our challenge is, we have enough time, so we have to figure it out.”
Thibodeau has not used the same starting lineup for more than seven consecutive games. Last year, the quintet of Carlos Boozer, Butler, Dunleavy, Kirk Hinrich and Noah started the final 26 games, then fizzled in the playoffs. With Gasol for Boozer and Rose for Hinrich, Thibodeau has a little more to work with this time, if he can get that group together.
“It’s not just defense— it’s offensive aswell,” Thibodeau said. “You build execution through repetition. The only way you build that is by practice.”