Joakim Noah, the heart and soul of the Chicago Bulls, sat on the bench for the final 22:53 of Saturday night’s 85-82 overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies.

“Just a coach’s decision,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Nobody will be talking about the fact that the Bulls lost this game over the next few days. The only thing fans will wonder about is whether there is some sort of friction between the team’s star center and its coach.

Thibodeau opened up that possibility by benching Noah throughout most of the second half and then telling everybody Noah was physically fine.

via Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago