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Tom Thibodeau talks late-game timeout fiasco and Pau Gasol update

Lots going on today at Bulls practice. How much of it is 'noise' exactly, remains unclear.

By Chris Terzic
Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Kind of a lot going on today over at Bulls practice. Whether it be injury updates, guys skipping media interviews or Tom Thibodeau addressing David Blatt's near infamous timeout blunder -- here's some juicy stuff to hold you over until Game 5 tomorrow night in Cleveland with the series, of course, tied 2-2. To kick things off: the latest injury update for both teams, starting with the Bulls:


So, the news on Pau Gasol isn't exactly ideal. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune also mentioned that Gasol didn't do anything on the court in practice, which obviously is not great. If Gasol's not even going up-and-down in practice then his odds for playing Game 5 do not bode well. Tough luck for Pau who, up until this point, experience remarkable health given his heavy usage and minutes this season.

The stuff being reported out of Cleveland on Kyrie Irving also sounds pretty rough. Here's the skinny:


Yeesh. Kyrie himself puts his current status as '30-40%', but also that he's not going to sit out.

Then, there was the mysterious media unavailability of Jimmy Butler. Apparently Butler's now gone consecutive days without addressing the media, which is an issue to media people? I guess?

Look, I don't want to throw some nonsense out there, but when Butler went on bereavement leave in early January of this year, he was quiet around that time and I believe he skipped on a few media sessions prior to the leave. Basically, I just hope nothing more serious is going on in Jimmy's personal life because I remember things got a little weird in January, too.

Of course, Thibs had some things to say also. Here's an atypically wordy Thibs quote courtesy of Sean Highkin from Bleacher Report, regarding how Thibs values player input:


Furthermore, Thibs commented on the Blatt timeout fiasco and essentially poured (K.C. Johnson's) cold water over any controversy. Thibs actually had sympathy -- I know, right? -- for the officials missing Blatt's signal for a timeout, citing that they're too busy following the play at hand. Although, funny enough, Thibs also said he saw Blatt motion for a timeout as it happened live. Then, more importantly, Thibs also said this:


Guess that means everyone ought to quit blaming the officials for granting an 'extra timeout' due to the video review process taking approximately 28 minutes per review. If Thibs asked for the review, shift the blame, people.

This has been your Bulls' news roundup. Thank you and good day.