Bulls welcome Oakley's postseason primer
CLEVELAND - Taj Gibson and Joakim Noah received a playoff pep talk this week from a Cleveland native. Former Bulls forward Charles Oakley pulled the two aside after Wednesday's victory at Charlotte for some advice.
Oakley watched the Bulls-Bobcats game from the front row, seated next to Bobcats owner Michael Jordan.
"He talked to me and Joakim about being tough, being there for your teammates, not taking any trash from anybody," Gibson said. "Be real tough and physical. This is playoffs, no holds barred. I got a wake-up call on that tonight."
Noah actually goes back a long way with Oakley. Not only was Noah an avid New York Knicks fan when Oakley played there in the 1990s, Noah also had a family connection.
"I've known Oak since I was 12 years old. He's good friends with my Godmother," Noah said. "I'm a big fan of Oak. He represented our city (New York) real well. He was a tough guy who never took nothing from nobody. He just told us to go out there and play hard, enjoy it."
If Oakley attends a game in the Bulls-Cavs series, it would create a reunion of the infamous brawl at the United Center in 2002 featuring Oakley, Brad Miller and Shaquille O'Neal, then with the Lakers.
"Hopefully, Oak will be on our sideline one day," Gibson said.
No time to rest: Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro was asked about playing Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich more than 43 minutes each. But really, the timeouts in these ABC games are about five minutes long. Rest shouldn't be much of an issue.
"I want my best players out there," Del Negro said. "We wouldn't be here without those guys. Maybe get their minutes down a little bit (in Game 2). Kirk really stabilizes us out there and obviously, Derrick's out there to make things happen for us."
Techs for two: Midway through the second quarter, Brad Miller and LeBron James were each given technicals after Miller fouled the Cavs superstar on a fastbreak drive to the basket.
James was given a technical for pushing back after the foul. Miller got his for reacting when James lobbied angrily for a flagrant foul.
"I guess I talked too much after he tried to run me over," Miller said. "I guess he was going back to his football roots."
Rose is fan friendly: While Joakim Noah has accepted that he's unpopular in Cleveland, Derrick Rose tried to win over the local fans when he was asked about the intensity of Saturday's game.
"When the fans are into it, the players get riled up," Rose said. "The fans, I love them. I love playing here. They make me play harder. I feel like shutting them up sometimes, but we'll need a win."
Shaq the ex-CEO: Here's Shaquille O'Neal on his role with a team that already has a dominant player in LeBron James:
"I'm one of those unorthodox CEOs who's been hired as a consultant. This is LeBron's corporation. I'm a guy that's been there and done that. We talk about a lot of things and a lot of situations. I'm very impressed with how he handles things."
Bull horns: Cleveland's win snapped a nine-game playoff losing streak against the Bulls, which had been on hold since 1994. - Jaylin Fleming, the famous fifth-grade basketball player from Chicago, was at Game 1 as a correspondent for the George Lopez show.