Tom Thibodeau doesn’t pause much for reflection. And he certainly doesn’t bask in glory.
The games come too large this time of year, growing in importance, beginning with Sunday’s Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals showdown between the Bulls and Heat at United Center.
And that’s why Thibodeau reacted to a softball comment about the Bulls’ dominating defense in their closeout victory over the Hawks as if it were an unwanted splice in his game film. He fidgeted. He grimaced. Then he finally spoke.
“I guess,” Thibodeau said. “We could do better.”
Thibodeau knows the Bulls will have to do so to slow LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and company. And better yet, his players know it too.
“Us against the world,” Derrick Rose said. “That’s the way we’re going to look at it.”
Never mind that many have vilified the Heat for their joined-forces routine during last summer’s unprecedented free agency period. Rose’s comment is another Thibodeau special, a fostered mindset that the Bulls must close ranks — and seal off the paint — to beat the Heat. They need to get down and dirty, and that starts at the defensive end.
“With great players, it’s very difficult to stop them,” Thibodeau said. “It’s hard to guard them individually. So you have to guard them with your entire team. You try to make them work, try to take away their layups and free throws as best you can and challenge their shots. They still have the ability to make shots and have big scoring nights on you. You have to have the resiliency to keep doing it time after time and make them work for their points.”
The Bulls finished third last season in opponents’ field-goal percentage, so it’s not like they were slouches under Vinny Del Negro and assistant coach Bob Ociepka, who took the lead at that end. But Joakim Noah said he saw differences as far back as training camp on how Thibodeau and his staff approached his system.
“Just the attention to detail and the repetition,” Noah said recently. “We were learning a new system, so we went over everything over and over and over. It’s a system built on trust.”
And the Bulls rode it to lead the league in opponents’ field-goal-percentage and opponents’ 3-point percentage as well finishing second to the Celtics in average points per game. They limited the Heat to 90.3 points per game and 44.2 percent shooting during three regular-season victories.
Not that the players, like Thibodeau, are impressed.
“The playoffs are different,” Rose said. “Their best players are making shots. They’re passing the ball well. LeBron and D-Wade’s confidence is very high, especially toward the end of games.”
So the Bulls will fall back on their core principals. Limit turnovers that put James and Wade in transition. Take high-percentage shots for floor balance and solid defensive transition. Guard the ball, limit penetration and challenge shots. The length and big-man depth of Noah, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik serve as the final defense in the form of basket protection.
Do those things — and finish with a rebound — and cliche becomes reality. Defense really does win championships. Just ask Thibodeau, who game-planned to eliminate James in the 2008 Eastern Conference semifinals when the former worked for the Celtics and the latter toiled for the Cavaliers.
The Celtics went on to defeat Kobe Bryant and the Lakers for the NBA title.
“This is the Eastern Conference finals,” Noah said. “It’s not about headlines. It’s about winning games.”
Twitter @kcjhoop
