Back in the days of center Joakim Noah holding down the fort in the paint for the Chicago Bulls, one of the team’s biggest rivals was the Boston Celtics. Noah was not a well-liked player at the time by the likes of former Bulls head coach and then Celtics’ assistant Tom Thibodeau along with a main star of Boston at the time in Paul Pierce.
The two-time All-Star, three-time All-Defensive Team selection, and 2013-14 Defensive Player of the Year, Noah was one of the focal points of the talented Bulls teams of the early 2010s. He was also potentially the best player that the Bulls had on the roster throughout the late 2000s.
Meanwhile, Pierce was one of the best players for those great Celtics’ teams that won a title in 2008. Pierce was a 10-time All-Star selection, 2007-08 NBA Finals MVP, and was inducted into the Hall-of-Fame with the class of 2021.
At the time when the Bulls faced the Celtics in the playoffs in 2009, Thibs was a Celtics’ assistant and Pierce was still one of the top stars in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls met the defending NBA Champion Celtics in the first round of the playoffs in the East in 2009, and Chicago pushed them to the brink.
Paul Pierce and Tom Thibodeau were not fans of Joakim Noah with the Chicago Bulls in the late 2000s
The Celtics and Bulls went to a seven-game series which ended up falling in Boston’s favor with a 10-point victory at home in Game 7 to close it out. But a newly forming rivalry in the East in the late 2000s and early 2010s was sparked by some of the Bulls’ tougher players like Noah.
According to a piece from ESPN’s Zach Lowe (paid insider content), Thibs was not a fan of Noah when he was on the Celtics’ coaching staff in the late 2000s, and neither was Pierce.
Pierce even stated that “I don’t talk to that guy” in reference to his relationship (or lack thereof) with Noah. The grit that Noah brought to the table for the Bulls clearly was able to get under the skin of so many with that Celtics team at the time.
But a lot of that presence that Noah brought to the table is what made him such a special big man that held it down on both ends of the floor for the Bulls for around a decade in Chicago.
That is largely why the Bulls’ fans still hold so much respect for Noah. This was a big week for Noah, as he was officially named a team ambassador ahead of “Joakim Noah Night” as the Bulls took on the New York Knicks at the United Center on Oct. 28.
It was only two years after the Bulls were ousted by the Celtics in that memorable seven-game series in the playoffs in 2009 that Thibs would replace Vinny del Negro as this team’s head coach. Thibs would coach Noah throughout a good portion of his run with the Bulls too.