Westerlund: Battered Bulls Enter Playoffs With Uncertain Health

By Cody Westerlund--

CHICAGO (CBS) – Back on Bulls media day to ring in the 2014-'15 season, general manager Gar Forman took to the dais and stated the organization's offseason goals. He spoke with championship aspirations in mind.

"When we went into this summer, there were really three main objectives we were looking to accomplish," Forman said on Sept. 29 at the Advocate Center. "The first was we were looking to improve our skill level and improve our ability to shoot the basketball, space the floor. The second objective we had was to create more quality depth with our basketball team. And the third objective we had was Derrick Rose's health."

Now here we are, 82 games of the regular season complete and nearly seven months gone by, and we know the Bulls' first two objectives manifested themselves just as management drew it up. For there's no other way Chicago could've gone 50-32 – the third time it has hit that win plateau in coach Tom Thibodeau's five years at the helm – with the final aim regarding Rose's health and, generally speaking, that of the team's becoming such an albatross on this season.

What we don't know yet is quite what to make of these Bulls.

Chicago's sloppy 91-85 home win Wednesday night against an Atlanta squad that rested its starters in the fourth quarter of the tight game sealed the Eastern Conference's third seed. The Bulls will host the sixth-seeded Bucks in a playoff opener Saturday at the United Center, with the same question lingering that they've so often faced.

Are they healthy enough to compete for a championship?

As the regular season came to a close Wednesday, Rose watched the final 26-plus minutes from the end of the bench, his left knee – not the one that underwent a surgical procedure on Feb. 27 – feeling sore. Rose and Thibodeau each downplayed any worries, with both indicating he'll be ready for Saturday's Game 1.

The soreness didn't pop up on a particular play, and Rose said it was his decision not to play in the second half, though he and Thibodeau were on the exact same page in using a cautious approach.

"We didn't want it to linger into a couple more days," said Rose, who struggled in scoring two points on 1-of-3 shooting with four turnovers in 10 minutes.

"I wasn't worried. It's something I've felt before in the past with (Team) USA (last summer). I feel good, I feel good. I'm not worried about it coming up again or anything. It's just tonight wasn't the night."

Joining Noah on the bench was big man Joakim Noah, who sat out for a second straight game with what the injury report listed as left hamstring soreness. However, both Thibodeau and Rose in recent days had made mention of Noah's knee troubles, and it's been reported that he's still dealing with lingering issues in the right knee that he had offseason surgery on.

While the Bulls are hopeful that Noah will play Saturday, he's certainly not 100 percent.

Chicago's frontcourt corps was further thinned when sixth man Taj Gibson left in the third quarter with a left shoulder strain, an injury he traced back to an April 5 loss at Cleveland and one that's given him fits since. Gibson was adamant he'd be ready for the playoffs, but his words were jarring.

"I've been playing through it, kept playing through it," Gibson said. "After a while, your body just shuts down on you. I couldn't even feel my left hand – I just kept trying to play though it."

Many fans will laugh sarcastically, but it's worth noting too that reserve guard Kirk Hinrich sat out Wednesday with a hyperextended left knee , and his status is uncertain for Saturday. He'll figure into the rotation, if healthy.

Given the injury history of the Bulls in years past, one can't help but wonder. That's what Pau Gasol was doing. He signed with Chicago in the offseason to chase a championship, and he'll get his chance – with a razor-thin margin for error.

"Get healthy," Gasol said when asked what it will take for Chicago to make a deep postseason run. "And then understand that we got to want it more than anybody else. That's something, the resiliency we have, we have to turn it into determination.

"We have a few guys tonight, which was concerning to me, that weren't able to play. We need to get them back to have a chance to move forward."

Perhaps the best response of the night came from Rose, the one so often criticized for his injury history and his choice in spring 2013 to not return for the playoffs despite being cleared by doctors. Rose is grateful for the chance to again participate in the playoffs for the first time since 2012, and he was asked if he's had enough time to get ready for them after returning for the last five regular-season games following a 20-game absence.

He talked from an individual perspective, but his words carried what's become a truth for the battered Bulls.

"Nobody cares now," Rose said of the injury worry. "I think it's all about just playing. Like I said, my whole mindset coming into these playoffs is 'no excuses' and 'get the job done.' That's my mindset."

Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.