Some players are just special whether it be skill, leadership, energy, heart or any other intangibles. Joakim Noah is the heart and soul of the Chicago Bulls.
Noah left it on all on the floor to lead his Bulls past the more talented Nets in a game 7 in Brooklyn.
Noah has been fighting plantar fasciitis on the whole series, he could barely walk during a few games. Besides being injured himself and not knowing which teammates would suit up nightly Noah was quoted after losing game 6 at home,
“We keep getting punched in the face but we fight back. I’m proud of this team, and we’re going to go into a hostile environment in Brooklyn and we’re going to win.”
And boy did he back it up going buckwild on the Nets. Noah had a stat line of 41 minutes, 24 points on 12 of 17 shooting, 14 rebounds and 6 blocks, not half bad for a guy playing on one foot. If you dig deeper it’s more amazing the game he played because not only was he hurt but Kurt Hinrich didn’t play, Loul Deng didn’t play and Taj Gibson was still feeling the effect of the flu.
Noah has an awkward game, you wouldn’t teach a kid to shoot like him but it’s affective. Every team needs a guy that doesn’t care what the media thinks because who really gave the Bulls a shot to win this series? Hell, the Noah led the Bulls to this series win, it in turn made my Nets have a shot to be the Heat article look like pure foolery and I could dive into the heartless Nets but that would be knocking how good the Bulls played to pull off this short handed upset.
Sometimes you just need players who will give you maximum effort and heart. In the dictionary under leaving it all on the floor you would see a picture of Joakim Noah.
Salute to Noah for not folding in the tent and going out there in shocking the world.
