For Joakim Noah tonight, the triple-double talk came early, having 5 assists in just after the first 8 minutes of the game. He had 7 by halftime, with 8 rebounds and all 6 points coming from the free-throw line. By the end of the 3rd quarter, Noah became the first Bulls center with a triple-double since Artis Gilmore in 1977. And as that quarter ended and he hit a baseline tornado to give him 13 points, he gave an emphatic version of the fingagunz holster, and solidified his place as just the best.

By then the Bulls were up 93-75 and Noah didn't have to see the floor the rest of the night, as the fourth quarter played out as garbage-time (sorry, not for you Luol Deng, get out there!) and skews downward the fantastic offensive night the Bulls displayed otherwise, because it was quite impressive.

There was Noah's statistical feat, Derrick Rose showing more burst as he returns from injury, Carlos Boozer unleashing post moves, Kyle Korver getting ran off the 3-point line but draining long twos, Ronnie Brewer looking completely turned around now that Rose has returned to the lineup (7-10 shooting)...even Luol Deng responded from a very quiet first half to eventually get to 16 points.

The Bucks actually played fairly well on offense, helped out by the Bulls 20 turnovers, but they were up against a juggernaut. When they weren't throwing the ball away, the Bulls couldn't be stopped, and in the rare case they were even slowed, the rebound would nearly always wind up in their hands: an astounding 45% to 25% OffReb% advantage. The Bucks front line, depleted without Andrew Bogut and Drew Gooden, just coiuldn't compete with Boozer and Noah. Either they'd have Ersan Ilyasova try to guard Booz and get backed down, or they'd switch and allow Noah to have free reign of the offensive glass.

The Bucks don't have the manpower even with Bogut, Gooden, or Stephen Jackson, but opponent aside it was a destruction that was nice to see. Tom Thibodeau can still look to failings with turnovers and defense and not be entirely wrong, but as he heads to the All-Star break with Derrick Rose and Deng he has to be pleased that in no way has his team lost focus. It's been a trial-laden but extremely successful season, and the break is well-earned. But I'm sure the team is excited and their coach ever-excitable knowing the higher caliber of opposition awaits them in the second half of the season.

Don't think an overflow thread will be need, we'll see.

[Thanks to boyonthedock for today's game preview. Rose is starting and CJ is out. Game thread up at 7:08 -yfbb]

The Bulls get to face the tattered remains of the Milwaukee Bucks Basketball Squadron tonight at the United Center. I know this because Marquette has a home game at the Bradley Center tonight, and they have made a strong effort in recent years to stop playing NBA and NCAA games simultaneously on the same court.

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Recap from shootaround this morning, from KC Johnson:

For the second straight day, coach Tom Thibodeau said Rose is fine after logging close to 35 minutes on Monday in his return from missing five games with back spasms.

"He’s good, fine," Thibodeau said. "He did everything."

Watson suffered a mild concussion in Saturday's loss to the Nets when he ran into Kris Humphries. The NBA instituted a new policy in December. To be cleared, a player must first be free of symptoms, then remain symptom-free through increasing tests of exertion. Then, a league-hired neurologist must clear the player.

All things considered, fortunate timing for Watson as after tonight the Bulls don't play again until next Tuesday.

No word on how the league handles fan concussions self-induced from having to watch John Lucas III.

The Bulls' 90-79 win over the Hawks on Monday was a bit of dominance mixed with a bit of a stinker. Leading by as much as 21, pulling the starters from a game where Atlanta never really had a chance was nixed by the Bulls being brick-tastic and flat to recover on defense in the third quarter, seeing their lead shorten to five.

The Bulls responded to an ugly start to the game, where they found themselves down 11-6, with a 29-6 run over the final eight minutes of the first quarter. They cruised through to halftime and stayed level early in the third, looking like the starters would get a fourth quarter to rest. But the Bulls bricked 13-of-19 shots and turned the ball over four times, while Jannero Pargo knocked down three 3s and the Bulls failed to recover in transition.

In the halfcourt, though, the Bulls prevented the Hawks from getting just about anything going. On the other end, the Bulls didn't shoot well, but the ol' reliable mulligan game was there. The Bulls scored 18 second chance points on 15 offensive boards and nailed 8-of-20 3s (40%) to make up for an awful day of shooting from the field (38.6%).

Derrick Rose (23 points on 8-for-18, 2-for-4 on 3s, six assists, four rebounds, four turnovers in 34:54) was explosive in his first game in about a week-and-a-half; and he wasn't strapped to a gurney. The first step beat Jeff Teague without a problem and the lift made Zaza Pachulia hack away.

The story was overall great defense. The Hawks never really were able to penetrate well. Josh Smith (17 points on 7-for-21) made great move on the handful of occasions he was able to establish position inside, but never got established as an easy button for rough possessions, even with Carlos Boozer checking him while Joakim Noah was anchoring the paint. As the Bulls easily got to the paint, Smith was a strong attacker with three blocks, making it difficult to convert (36 points in the paint on 18-for-44, 40.9%). Unfortunately for Atlanta, only Smith and Pachulia were grabbing rebounds (19 of the team's 41) and the perimeter defenders couldn't recover after collapsing to close out on shooters.

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I don't know what was more disorienting: the early start, or seeing so much of a Hinrich-Pargo backcourt.

Recap coming later.

Biggest news first: Derrick Rose participated in practice Sunday and if there's no setback Monday morning he'll be starting the 3pm contest that day. It's a weird start time (President's Day I guess?), and Sam Smith noted after the Saturday afternoon debacle against the Nets that they're now 1-4 in day games (and the 1 was that improbable comeback win against the Lakers on Christmas). But he also rightly points out that usually day games mean you're on national TV facing good teams. This time it's the Hawks, who aren't upper-echelon but a solid test even if Rose is back.

Nobody really has an answer for what happened in that Nets game, which seems appropriate. There had to be some effort issues, sure, but they were compounded by New Jersey's 3-point shooting whereas otherwise maybe the Bulls 2nd unit could've done their usual comeback magic. Deron Williams was able to dominate the game to where their lead was never in question, and a lot of the damage was done against CJ Watson, who continued his recent trend of bad performances.

CJ's not alone though, his backcourt-mate Ronnie Brewer scored 5 points in 27 minutes, and has averaged less than 6 points per game on 36.6% shooting in the 11 games since Rip Hamilton last started.

It's undoubtedly been a bad stretch for both, but they're bench players for a reason. I suppose there are some short-term fixes the Bulls can try. Thibodeau went outside of his comfort zone on Saturday and brought in Jimmy Butler first off the bench. Mike James also appeared ahead of John Lucas in the game (and were unfortunately tried together), but James will probably be cut again once Rose is re-established. The only practical sustainable fix is just waiting and getting healthy, and figuring Watson and Brewer will settle back to their norms when in their usual roles.

It's a concern that even that isn't quite enough (and how the Bulls frontcourt performed in that game leads to another story...and are you paying attention to what the Heat have been doing lately?), but there's no need to urgently press Rose back into action, as Nick Friedell strangely speculates at ESPNChicago. KC Johnson got in a dig at the concept of resting Rose based on opponent, but the failing of the Bulls in playing Rose in that Hornets game wasn't because of the opponent, it was because Rose wasn't healthy. And though the Nets loss does give Thibs ammo in his mantra that opponent doesn't matter, and I hope this anecdote from Mike McGraw was part of some post-game tirade by Thibs to that effect (because it's funnier to imagine that way), let's all agree that maybe it's not the opponent but merely the fact that it's still the regular season that makes it to where the Bulls should side with caution.

They're certainly doing that with Rip Hamilton, to where the consensus seems to be he won't be returning until after the All-Star break. In the wake of some recently-poor performances by the Bulls, it's tantalizing to focus instead on what may be with a full starting lineup, as Sam Smith did in this piece about their passing acumen. But while there's certainly time, Steve Aschburner at NBA.com notes that the Bulls really don't know what they have with Rip, who was signed on to be the difference this season.

More time for Jimmy Butler or Mike James wouldn't be that difference. The veteran free-agents now and in buyout season likely will choose destinations with more playing time, as J.R. Smith did with the Knicks. Or they're players not good enough to supplant a member of the Bulls 2nd unit even when they're struggling. Of course, hindsight on other options from the offseason shows disappointment all around, like Tracy McGrady with the incoming Atlanta Hawks. But at least, unlike Rip, they're playing.

The bench mob is a formidable asset and has kept the Bulls at a very nice record. But they've also shown to have their appropriate limitations, so getting Rip and Rose right is what can get this team back to great.