Well Pippen Peoples, we start this version of Chicago Bulls News by writing checks…
Joakim Noah’s that is.
Joakim Noah is the ultimate teammate. He will do anything for his teammates on the basketball court. This admirable quality was on full display in the Chicago Bull’s first preseason game on Monday against the Washington Wizards.
A fast-break opportunity for Jimmy Butler came to an abrupt end when Paul Pierce jutted his shoulder hard into the chest of Jimmy Buckets, causing the head of the Chicago Bull’s shooting guard to whip backward. The video highlight of the incident shows Pierce yapping away at Butler who was trying to ignore the former Boston Celtic. After awhile, Joakim Noah intervened, giving Pierce a mouthful and lightly pushing him away. Pierce retaliated, lashing out at Noah’s forehead and a bench clearing argument/shoving match ensued.
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I can hear Bill Lambeer and other players of the 80s and 90s laughing hysterically at the prospect of this skirmish being characterized as a fight. In their era, it wasn’t major unless somebody was laying on the court on top of a pool of blood.
Nonetheless, the confrontation between Joakim Noah and Paul Pierce added some intrigue to this game. It gave me something to write about on this page and was exciting to watch.
Here is the video of the skirmish between Noah and Pierce.
The Chicago Bulls would be the team to get in a fight like this during the preseason. Joakim Noah has had a history of fighting his teammates’ battles for them, and this is another item in a laundry list of examples of when this has happened.
The Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics have a long history of being hated rivals. Noah vocally expresses his thoughts about Boston in this throwback commercial that consistently aired 4 seasons ago.
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"Boston. They don’t like me over there. It’s okay. I have my friends"
Yep, this quote pretty sums up Joakim Noah. The first word is interchangeable with virtually any NBA city. If he’s on your team you love him, if he isn’t you hate him. It’s simple as that, he’s one of those types of players.
Okay, lets get down to business, enough of me goofing around with random tidbits of commentary.
Joakim Noah and Paul Pierce were fined $15,000 each for their altercation early in the preseason game on Monday. In addition, DeJuan Blair, Nene, Daniel Orton and Xavier Silas are suspended for the first game of the regular season for leaving the bench during the fight. This quartet of players crossed the half-court line from the bench, an offense automatically punishable by a one game suspension. Although the Bulls cleared their bench as well, none of their players crossed the mid-court line.
Well, in retrospect, the Bulls got the best end of this deal. The fans got some entertainment value with the fight between Noah and Pierce and the Bulls escaped the altercation with just an irrelevant fine to show for it.
Last thought before I conclude: it is bogus that Pierce didn’t receive a larger fine than Noah. Not only did Pierce participate in the altercation, he escalated the entire situation with his hard foul on Jimmy Butler which was completely out of context given the fact that this is preseason.
Paul Pierce better watch out. Joakim Noah can clearly kick the snot out of him on any given day.
You mess with the Bull, you get the horn.