Schuster: Bulls Come To Boozer's Defense
By David Schuster--
CHICAGO (WSCR) The Chicago Bulls are a defensive minded team and that extends to off the court too. That defense was on full display Thursday when the questioning turned to Carlos Boozer and his ineffectiveness so far in the postseason. Boozer has been plagued the last two games with a painful toe injury and it definitely has effected his play. He doesn't appear to be able to jump much and had at least four shots blocked in Wednesday night's contest.
Luol Deng was first to meet the media after Thursday's practice and quickly came to his teammate's defense.
"Carlos is out there playing hurt," he said. "If it was the regular season none of this talk would be happening. He's giving his all with a painful injury and it's one of those injuries that is really slowing him down. A toe doesn't sound like much but it is an annoying injury. Carlos is a proven great player in this league and we have no doubt that he will get his rhythm back and we will be even better when that happens."
Head coach Tom Thibodeau also led the charge. "Carlos has been in the league for a long time," Thibodeau said. "He's been through every possible situation you can be through so he'll handle it fine. This guy has been a big time player in this league for a long time so he knows what he has to do."
And as for those in the media, and those fans, who would like to see a change in the starting line up, Thibodeau shot that down. "We need Carlos out there. His rebounding is critical for us as is his post presence which opens up a lot of things for everybody. So he just has to keep doing what he's doing and each day he'll get better and better."
Better and better? Time will tell on that one but it's imperative that he gets back to being the player he's been for most of his career. Because the Bulls won't win anything this year unless he does.
