Thrilling, captivating Bulls action! No, seriously ...
It started 95 minutes before tip Thursday, and was a continuing theme all evening.
"Dwyane Wade!" screamed a concessionaire from the 300 level. "You're coming to Chicago next year!"
Standing courtside after some early shooting, Wade laughed, turned around, and gave a polite wave.
He is coming to Chicago next year, and the year after that and the year after that, but probably as a member of the Miami Heat.
That's the same Miami club turned hapless under the weight of the freight train that is the Bulls' playoff express, which crushed the Heat, 106-87, at the UC Thursday night.
And it's all very exciting, this playoff chase.
No, really. It is.
The Bulls' furious climb to seventh place in the East, minuscule percentage points ahead of the eighth-place Pistons, is just so captivating.
Except that it's really not.
Carrying the third-best record in the East since the break (12-8) has merely put the Bulls (35-38) in a position to get quickly eliminated in the postseason.
Mildly interesting? Maybe. Better than it was before the trade deadline? Certainly. Somewhat pointless? Pretty much.
The Bulls are going to make the playoffs and even the most die-hard has to ask, "So what?''
As was the case several months ago, the Bulls still have one fabulous NBA starter in Derrick Rose, and not a whole bunch after that.
And so what if they make the playoffs as the seventh or eighth seed? What in the name of Jack Marin, and all that's holy, does it matter?
I'll grant you that a few young Bulls who may yet be around in the fall of 2010 will gain some playoff experience.
But this entire experiment all comes down to whether GM John Paxson can manage a trade for Chris Bosh this summer, next February at the trade deadline, or sign Bosh as a free agent during the Summer of LeBron.
That's 2010, when King James is probably headed to New York and Wade is most likely staying in Miami.
After all this time under Paxson, the Bulls still have no inside presence to speak of and Bosh has got to be their target as they look for a way to maximize the considerable talent Rose offers at point guard.
But until then, until they get their shot at Bosh, this playoff race occupies the players' time and keeps the fans' minds off this bizarre season and their rookie coach, Vinny Del Negro, who remains a work in progress.
Del Negro spent his pregame Thursday alternating between an inexplicable explanation of why Rose was healthy enough to play but not healthy enough to start, and calling his replacement, Kirk Hinrich, "Kurt,'' at least five times.
After, he gushed about beating the Heat and this current stretch of good basketball.
"We've proven all year we can beat anyone,'' Del Negro said. "We've also shown we can lose games we didn't expect to lose.
"So we need to just take care of our business and not worry about what anyone else is doing.''
Oh yeah, scoreboard watching. That's the playoff thing we're talking about again.
Making it in and facing a first-round exit is like kissing your sister's pet iguana.
No, nothing genuinely important happens until Ben Gordon decides this summer whether he wants to stay, go to Miami, or head for another free agent destination.
If he stays, "Kurt'' has to go, and then it's a matter of whether the Bulls can pry loose Bosh sooner rather than later.
In the meantime, the Bulls are at least more watchable than they were a month ago, and they are indeed headed for the playoffs.
"We'll take them one at a time,'' Del Negro said. "And when our approach is right, we have enough to give teams problems.''
Can you feel the excitement?
"We're winning some games,'' said John Salmons, who had another big game with 27 points. "It's good.''
Bulls fever.
Catch it.
brozner@dailyherald.com