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We all knew the Bulls were good before last night.

Tom Thibodeau’s “Coach of the Year” honor and Derrick Rose’s MVP award are Chicago’s most-often cited credentials, but the Bulls also ranked atop the NBA in defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) and rebounding rate (percentage of missed shots rebounded) this season. Oh, and they had the best record in the Eastern Conference. 

But even with all of that, it may have been Thursday’s 93-73 series-clinching win over the Hawks that made the message crystal clear: Fear this team

“I thought we came in extremely focused in shootaround, on the bus, in the locker room before the game, you could tell everyone was really locked in,” Bulls swingman Kyle Korver told HOOPSWORLD’s Lang Green. “When we’re like that, our defense is usually really tough, really tough. I thought everyone played well tonight, especially on that end of the floor. When we’re loading up like that, we’re really making it tough for the other team to score. We can be really good.”

So just how good can the Bulls be? They weren’t perfect against the Hawks on Thursday, missing 10 of 13 3-point attempts and finishing even on the boards. In fact, Chicago committed 22 personal fouls, most of which were easily preventable.

But even with the poor outside shooting and occasional questionable decision, the Bulls looked downright scary.

“I think we did an outstanding job tonight,” Kurt Thomas told HOOPSWORLD. “We really shared the ball with each other, we covered for each other defensively, and it just led to a lot of easy baskets for us. D-Rose played great, Carlos Boozer played outstanding and really shot the ball well for us. It just led to everyone else playing well, the supporting cast.”

“We’ve had several good games when we’ve played at a really high level, but I thought this is definitely one of our better ones,” Korver agreed. “Offensively we probably could have been a little bit better, but defensively tonight we were great.”

Chicago’s masterful postseason has largely fallen on deaf ears as NBA audiences mistakenly anointed the Miami-Boston series as the NBA Finals. Even the HEAT players sounded too congratulatory after beating the Celtics, considering the postseason isn’t quite half over. But that’s the way the entire season has been for the Bulls. Yes, the public paid attention to Rose’s brilliant season, but what about the way Taj Gibson filled in for Carlos Boozer at the beginning of the year? Or the way Omer Asik stepped up when Joakim Noah went down? Even as Chicago’s best players were dropping, Thibodeau managed to forge the league’s most-resilient team.

But when did it all come together for the Bulls? There happens to be differing opinions within the locker room.

“I think it’s kind of a gradual process,” Korver said. “We started out 9-8; we had that really long Western Conference road trip. We played the Lakers, the Texas teams, Phoenix, early in the season, you know. We came through that 5-2 and felt like we could have won a couple more. That was the point where we were like, ‘Yo.’

“And Booz wasn’t even healthy,” Korver continued. “He was hurt through that part of the season. It’s been a bit of a strange season because Booz missed twenty-something games and Jo missed 20-something games, so we didn’t really have our whole team until probably 25 games ago, when we really felt like we were all really on the same page. I don’t know if there was one moment. I think early we saw what we could but because we saw the injuries, I don’t think we saw it until the end.”

Thomas disagrees somewhat. He feels that the chemistry was always there, but it was often camouflaged by the injury problems.

“It’s been great,” Thomas said. “Ever since training camp we’ve been all on the same page, with the same goal. It’s been about winning and we’re showing it every night. We’ve had a lot of goals, but we’ve just been chipping away with it. And here we go again. We just reached another goal and we’re still going on ahead.

“I think the key for us was, you know, we were tested early when Booz injured his hand early in the year,” he continued. “We had to dig deep and we survived that test and then Jo went down, and he was down so that was another big test for us. I think going through those two tough moments for us has prepared us for this moment right now.”

One thing Korver and Thomas did agree on was the team’s celebration. They each told HOOPSWORLD that they would reflect on their second-round accomplishment on Thursday night, but Friday morning was “back to work.”

Rivers Signs Five-Year Extension, Ainge Discusses Celtics’ Future

Celtics coach Doc Rivers told us all he was leaning this way, and now the team has put its money where his mouth is. The two sides agreed to a five-year extension on Friday, but that wasn’t the only business Celtics president Danny Ainge addressed during Friday’s end-of-season press conference.

Ainge also discussed possible surgeries on Rajon Rondo’s elbow (no surgery needed) and Jermaine O’Neal’s wrist (he will have surgery to repair torn cartilage), but Shaquille O’Neal’s future is more complicated. The team will have to wait and see if he picks up his player option for next year, which could make planning more difficult.

“[O'Neal's option] doesn’t matter right now, from any of our planning, at this minute," Ainge told reporters, including ESPNBoston’s Chris Forseberg. "I like everybody to just take some time off after emotional losses and get your heads together and we’ll talk about that in a future time.”

Ainge also took the opportunity to address a statement he previously made about the possibility of Paul Pierce coming off the bench next season in favor of Jeff Green.

"Yeah, I’m sure I’ll be hearing from Paul,” Ainge said. “But I don’t know. That will be Doc’s decision. Jeff playing a bigger role, if he comes back, I think that that will be the case if he were to come back. I think he would play a bigger role. I have no idea, maybe he’ll start in place of Ray [Allen]. Now [I'll be hearing from] Ray. Who knows? I don’t know the answer to that. But it’s possible that there could be [changes] –  it isn’t like this core group of guys doesn’t have to play the exact same way or with the exact same players. There’s some things that can be tweaked. That’s my whole point."

{AUTHOR_BOX}Could Duncan’s Deal Ger Restructured?

In an exclusive interview with Jeff McDonald and Mike Monroe of The San Antonio Express-News, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made some rather interesting comments on Tim Duncan’s future.

First, Popovich dismissed the notion that the 35-year-old center could call it quits.

“Timmy’s given me no indication he’s considering retiring, or anything like that, if that’s what you’re asking,” Popovich said.

Not only is Duncan probably returning, but Popovich and Duncan intend to sit down and discuss several options moving forward, including a restructured deal.

“I did mention to him, as an aside more than anything because I’m not prepared, either, but I said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to talk about your contract. Are you going to play?’” Popovich said. “‘Are you going to opt out? Are you going to play nine more years? What?’ He said, ‘Yeah, my agent is talking to me about that,’ and I said we had to get together to talk about it. That’s as far as it’s gone.”

Maybe Duncan sees himself playing longer than anyone anticipated.

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