Well, if Gordon, Deng, and Smith are out, and Hinrich and Nocioni don't play well, Bulls basketball becomes "where 67 points against the TWolves happens"

Nocioni had an epic night in 28 'entitlement' minutes: 2-12, 7 points,  4 rebs, 4 fouls and 5 turnovers. I want him out of town last week. Sadly, the team needs him with so many injuries, and he's in one of his 'cold streaks'. I guess that makes him 'inconsistent'.

[I'm so sick of that word to describe everything with this team, both internally and from the outside. If they were consistent they'd be good. They're not inconsistent, they're bad.  If Tyrus Thomas was consistent he'd be one of the best players in the league (and tonight he was at least an entry pass machine, and Aaron Gray owes him dinner), so I'd take his (or Noah's, or Thabo's) inconsistency over the veterans consistency (welcome back Duh, 0-4 in 22 minutes. Though I guess it's either that or Griffin), and their consistency is a nice way of saying mediocre. And that's when they're called consistent, i.e. their good games. Was I consistent in that argument?]

Wallace was once again alright playing solo defense on Al Jefferson, until that pesky 2nd half of the game. Of course, Wallace made up for this by doing nothing else worthwhile on the court, he had 7 defensive rebounds while Jefferson had 6 offensive (20 overall).  And his perfect shooting percentage (1-1) must've encouraged Boylan to get him out there in the 4th while his team was down double-digits. Here's more Boylan goodness courtesy of commenter sbulls9030, who deserves the spotlight after bravely attending a game where the first quarter score was 14-8: " Boylan and his stupid rotations.  He has 3 somewhat healthy guards and he still decides to play a 3 guard lineup along with Nocioni and Wallace?  It should be a crime to put five guys on the floor that all 6'7" or shorter in an NBA game."

I'm so frustrated with Nocioni that I don't want to see him in an NBA game regardless of what 4 teammates he has, but as I said that's not really a possibility with Deng and Gordon out, they not only needed Noc to play but play well. Didn't happen. 

There's good news: the Bulls don't play again until Saturday.

And while I hope Gordon and Smith will be available by then, unfortunately those returns won't mean fewer minutes for Duhon and Noc. It'll mean less for Thabo, Noah, and Thomas, as the team resumes the Boylan-led veteran-laden charge towards the playoffs.

And since the Bulls will never be out of this playoff 'race', the best we can hope for is that it only lasts until the trade deadline.