Bulls' Gibson not ready to give up playoff dream
After the Bulls lost to Phoenix on Tuesday, NBA TV analyst Chris Webber mentioned it would be sad if the Bulls missed the playoffs this year, because they played such an entertaining series against Boston last year.
Webber isn't the only one thinking that way. Bulls rookie Taj Gibson watched that series from his college apartment in Los Angeles.
"Seeing how our guys were playing last year, it was real emotional. Guys were just fighting every play," Gibson said Thursday at the Berto Center. "It just stinks that we had a lot of injuries.
"But guys are still optimistic. They understand there are still a few games left and every game is going to count at this point. It would be a dream come true my rookie year to get to the playoffs. I'm hoping we can get it done."
The Bulls' playoff chances are slipping away, but there are still eight games left to try to catch Toronto for eighth place. They could lose one the rest of the way and still finish 42-40, but winning twice this weekend is almost mandatory.
They travel Friday to Washington, which just broke a 16-game losing streak. On Saturday, the Bulls host seventh-place Charlotte. Toronto has two winnable games this weekend, playing the 76ers on the road Saturday and hosting Golden State on Sunday.
"Every day I wake up, every day I come to practice extra motivated because I know any given moment, any game, it can be the outcome of the whole season," Gibson said. "We take it one game at a time, but it's tough, because every team right now is really inching for a playoff spot."
The Bulls might be healthier against the Wizards. There's a possibility forward Luol Deng will play for the first time since suffering a right calf strain on March 9 against Utah.
"He's still a little tentative (in practice), you can see," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "He doesn't have probably a lot of confidence. But he was moving and it was just good to get him out there."
Guard Kirk Hinrich skipped Thursday's practice with a sprained left ankle, which occurred against Phoenix. But Del Negro said Hinrich is feeling better and could play in Washington.
The Bulls will also strongly consider returning center Joakim Noah to the starting lineup for the first time since Feb. 3 in Philadelphia.
"I'm proud of the way they've stuck together and played hard," Del Negro said. "It's just that with the injuries and everything, the adversity we've dealt with, it's been difficult to get any consistency. We did get some consistency during the middle of the season when we were healthy and playing well.
"Then the trade deadline came and the injuries started piling on with Joakim and Derrick (Rose) and Lu and Kirk and everything. Then we caught a difficult slide there with our schedule and injuries. Now we're trying to battle back into it."
Bulls @ WizardsTime: 6 p.m. Friday.TV: Comcast SportsNet-plusRadio: WMVP 1000-AMUpdate: The Wizards seemed energized by their extreme roster makeover when they beat the Bulls 101-95 on Feb. 22. They lost Josh Howard last night with a torn ACL, guard Randy Foye has since gone down with a torn ligament in his wrist and Washington (22-52) built a franchise-record 16-game losing streak until finally winning at New Orleans 96-91 on Wednesday. Peoria native Shaun Livingston has taken over at point guard and the Bulls usually have trouble with 7-footer Andray Blatche, who scored 25 points in the last meeting.Next: Saturday vs. Charlotte Bobcats at the United Center, 7 p.m.