Derrick Rose is only 2 games into his latest comeback from an injury with the Chicago Bulls. He cut it pretty close though because the playoffs are right around the corner. Rose has been on a minutes restriction in his return with Chicago, only playing 20 minutes per game, playing only the first and third quarter to be exact.
Joakim Noah has been on a similar minutes restriction all season. He’s been cut down to 32 minutes per game and it has even ‘costed the Bulls’ a close contest during the season.
Now it appears that the days of Rose and Noah playing limited minutes is approaching its end as the playoffs come.
Following from K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
Not only can Rose play in fourth quarters, he also will play more than 20 minutes, likely as early as Saturday. And that 32-minute limit Joakim Noah has been on all season? That will be lifted for the postseason.
That always has been the organizational plan since the restrictions were put in place in an attempt to keep Rose and Noah, both coming off offseason knee surgery, fresher for the playoffs. Rose’s latest small meniscus tear that sidelined him for 20 games after arthroscopic surgery only added another level of conservatism for the short-term.
That Rose returned for a back-to-back set of games further underscored the less-is-more approach. The games marked the Bulls’ last back-to-back of the regular season, and such scheduling doesn’t exist during the playoffs.
After successfully navigating the roughly 20-minute outings in Orlando and Miami that featured him sitting out both fourth quarters, an upbeat Rose respectfully asked for more.
Several times this season, most famously against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Thibodeau has run out of minutes for Noah before the fourth quarter came around, leaving the former Defensive Player of the Year sidelined in crunch time. Just watching his team struggle to defend the rim.
For obvious knee injury reasons, Rose’s time on the court has also been cut short as the has done its best to acclimate Rose back to his high level playing form with Chicago.
It appears now as the regular season wraps up and as Chicago heads into the playoffs, this won’t be a problem anymore for either the players or Coach Tibs. If Noah and Rose are able to play more minutes and be effective, the Bulls have a fighting chance against anybody.
Chicago has been a dark-horse pick to challenge the Cleveland Cavaliers or Atlanta Hawks and based off the new off-the-court problems with the Hawks, Chicago might be a trendy pick to overtake Atlanta as the team that could beat the Cavs.
