Joakim Noah.

[Toothy]

Bulls in Toronto with identical records: Bulls 104, Toronto 88.

Noah: 18 points, 19 rebounds, 7 assists.

TORONTO (AP)—A message in the Chicago locker room read: “How bad do we want it?” The way Joakim Noah(notes) played, it was easy to tell.

Derrick Rose(notes) scored 26 points, Noah had 18 points, 19 rebounds and matched a career-high with seven assists and the Bulls beat Toronto 104-88 on Sunday night to take a one-game lead over the Raptors for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

“I knew it was a really important game, I was really focussed,” Noah said. “I just wanted to go out there and impose my will as much as I could, just be aggressive offensively and defensively. It was a huge win and I just wanted to make sure that our team played harder than their team.”

Chicago has won eight of 12 since Noah returned from a foot injury that forced him to miss 10 games. The Bulls went 0-10 without him.

“He’s a guy who’s always energetic, always yelling and talking,” Rose said. “He’s always energy while he’s out there and you want to do the same when you see him do all that stuff.”

He's always energy. That's about right.

[texgator]

Yeah he's energy. Ugly ass energy, yet energy none the less.

[Toothy]

Methinks that somebody is gonna trade for Joakim at some point and he'll earn rings. He's the sort of player you want on a championship team -- the #2 or #3 player. He's a Scottie Pippen. All that talent the Gators had -- Horford and Brewer were better pure players, but Noah was the glue. And he works hard. He may end up being the best player off that team when all is said and done. He may be now.

[radbag]

i read that the owner of the bulls and their head coach had a bit of a fisticuffs...discussion had to do with Noah's playing time.

[Toothy]

Yeah. Del Negro wants not to suck in 2010 so he has a job in 2011. Paxson thinks he's gonna have a great team in 2013 and getting rid of Del Negro is one of the necessary steps.

Everybody there is high as a kite.