No limits for Noah - if he plays well

At Saturday's shootaround, Joakim Noah delivered some minor news regarding minutes restrictions.

"We spoke about it and coach will be able to do whatever he wants," Noah said.

That's supposed to mean Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau can play Noah and Derrick Rose as much as he wants during the playoffs, which start next weekend. Noah has been limited to 32 minutes most of the season after having arthroscopic knee surgery last May.

Thibodeau downplayed the minutes limits when asked about it before facing Philadelphia on Saturday.

"He has to play well, that's the important thing," Thibodeau said. "His minutes restrictions, it's not a big deal - 32 to 34 minutes is a good number for him and I've told him that. But he has to play well, too. We're not putting guys out there to put guys out there. You've got to play well.

"I think it's all good. And if he's playing well and in a good rhythm, if he goes to 33, 34 (minutes) that's good. That's great. The reason why the restrictions are off is he feels a lot better. So that's a positive."

Rose was held to 20 minutes in the first two games back from his own arthroscopic knee surgery. Thibodeau planned to add an extra segment to Rose's playing time Saturday, pushing him to 28 minutes.

"He feels great, so we'll see how it unfolds," Thibodeau said before the game.

Hills, valleys for Bulls:

There hasn't been a better demonstration all season of the Bulls' inconsistent play than Thursday at Miami, when they were outscored by 19 points in the final eight minutes of the second quarter, then outscored the Heat 33-8 in the third quarter.

Tom Thibodeau doesn't think his players believe they can flip a switch and start playing well whenever they feel the need.

"With the way everyone shoots 3s now, a 19-point lead, 17-point lead … if you let your guard down for a minute and they hit 3 3s, now it's down to 10," he said. "Once it's inside 10, you've got a shot at it.

"That's why it's so important to play tough with a lead and if you're down, to never give up and scratch your way back into it. The NBA's a long game."

Hinrich lost to injury:

This one started out as just the fifth time all season the Bulls had every player healthy and available. But Kirk Hinrich played just five minutes and left with a hyperextended left knee.

Hinrich suffered the same injury on April 1 in Milwaukee and missed two games.

Philadelphia was full of injury issues. The Sixers were missing both their point guards, Isaiah Canaan (foot) and Ish Smith (groin), plus center Nerlens Noel (ankle) and forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (shoulder).

Sixers top scorer Tony Wroten hasn't played since January due to a torn ACL and rookie center Joel Embiid sat out the season, although he warmed up on the floor before Saturday's game and grabbed some food from the media room.