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Noah’s November warning was dead on

Nobody dreamed the Bulls would be the dominant team in the Eastern Conference this season.

But center Joakim Noah sent a prophetic warning as he sat dejectedly in the visitors’ locker room after an overtime loss at Boston back on Nov. 5.

“For everybody who’s talking crazy; all the trash people are talking right now, it’s going to come back and haunt them,” Noah said that night. “When it counts, we’ll be ready.”

Noah was in no mood to gloat on Thursday at the United Center, but boy, was he ever right.

The Bulls all but locked down homecourt advantage for the Eastern Conference playoffs by shutting the Celtics down cold for a 97-81 victory.

The win moved the Bulls 4 games ahead of both Boston and Miami for first place in the Eastern Conference. Their magic number for clinching the No. 1 playoff seed is one. They could wrap it up Friday in Cleveland.

“I know that’s important, but right now I’m not really thinking about it,” Derrick Rose said of homecourt advantage. “I’m just trying to win games and trying to get better every game.”

Rose probably locked up the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award by piling up 30 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds. The other top contenders all faltered this week: Kobe Bryant fumbled away a game-winning opportunity vs. Utah, LeBron James misfired in a home loss to Milwaukee and Dwight Howard picked up his 18th technical of the season, which will cause him to miss Sunday’s game against the Bulls.

“If that’s not a statement for the MVP, I don’t know what is,” Noah said.

The Bulls (58-20) limited Boston to 38.4-percent shooting. Ray Allen went 3-for-11 from the field, Rajon Rondo was 3-for-10, Kevin Garnett 3-for-9 and Glen Davis 1-for-8.

The last time the Celtics visited town on Jan. 8, they were held to 79 points and a .378 field-goal percentage. Boston coach Doc Rivers made the point after the game — the Bulls record is no fluke.

“It’s no coincidence the Bulls have the best record in the East,” Rivers said. “They’ve earned it. They’ve earned with their heart. They’ve earned it with the way they play. You don’t play this amount of games and have the record they have and think it’s something different.”

Garnett was blunt when discussing his team’s performance.

“We got our (butt) kicked tonight,” he said. “I haven’t recalled that in a while. The Bulls were cohesive. They knew what they were doing.”

This game seemed to build evidence that Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau might have an unfair advantage. Not only is he renowned as a master defensive strategist, he spent the past three seasons as an assistant in Boston, so he knows the Celtics inside and out.

“He’s been working there for a long time,” Rose said. “I think he knows everybody there. Our biggest thing is following the game plan. He has great game plans for us. We just come out and try to execute them.”

The Bulls got off to a fast start, jumping to a 29-18 lead early in the second quarter. Boston (54-24) recovered to take a brief lead early in the third, but the Bulls answered with a 10-0 run and stayed in control the rest of the way.

Luol Deng added 23 points for the Bulls, while Carlos Boozer finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Noah played sparingly in the second half. He’s still recovering from a sprained right ankle, but Thibodeau didn’t say the injury was the reason for Noah’s limited playing time.

“I think he’s fine,” Thibodeau said. “His timing’s a little bit off. We need his energy, we need his hustle, we need his defense.”

Will Thibodeau look to rest some players once the Bulls wrap up the No. 1 seed? Probably not, especially since they’re just 1 loss behind San Antonio for the overall best record.

“The Cleveland game is just as important as tonight’s game,” Thibodeau said. “They carry the same weight. We have to understand how we got here has been with our attitude, our approach, focus in, get ready, study, have a good walk-through and be ready to play when the ball goes up tomorrow night.”

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Bulls’ Joakim Noah, center, celebrates with teammates Kurt Thomas, left, and Derrick Rose during the first quarter Thursday night at the United Center. associated press