When reporters covering the Chicago Bulls finished interviewing the coach, Tom Thibodeau, they headed to the team's postgame locker room and went en masse to one player, Joakim Noah, who was finishing dressing with his back to them.
Noah, the versatile and gangly center, tucked his scruffy long dark hair under a gray hoodie and adjusted the straps of a backpack on his shoulders. He turned around, in no mood to do more than summarize his misery.
'It is O.K. to be critical,' he said, glumly, after the Bulls fell to the Knicks, 100-89, Sunday night at a sobered Madison Square Garden. 'It is disappointing. A team that is playing for nothing and we are playing for something big. We didn't have the right mind-set. We fought hard and had a chance at the end, but we didn't play as hard as we are supposed to in a game that is this important.'
Not end-of-the-world or even end-of-the-season important - just the potential difference between finishing third or fourth in the Eastern Conference. But to Noah, losing to a Knicks team freshly eliminated from the playoffs and - to borrow one of Hubie Brown's old lines - that has been faint of heart all season was a harsh indictment of the Bulls' effort.
It was also a synopsis of what Thibodeau had said. Noah, above all, is the extension of his coach, the embodiment of a core resilience that has allowed the Bulls to be antithetical to the Knicks, unbowed by injury and adversity.
He is also, no doubt, the model leader and ideal potential teammate for Carmelo Anthony at the crossroads of Anthony's 11-year N.B.A. career, out of the playoffs for the first time.
Watching Noah play almost demonically as the Bulls more than survived losing Derrick Rose to a second knee injury and trading Luol Deng in apparent organizational surrender, and then listening to him Sunday night, brought to mind something George Karl told me several weeks ago.
Karl, who coached Anthony for seven-plus seasons in Denver, praised him as a well-meaning superstar but one who needs what he called 'that player - the point guard, or someone who takes on that role - to be the bridge from the coach to him.'
Presumably headed for unrestricted free agency in July, Anthony may not be able to resist the temptation to flip open his communicator and say, 'Melo to bridge, beam me out of here.'
In recent weeks, the Bulls and Anthony may have been trading seductive messages, despite the extreme salary gap gymnastics that would be required and financial sacrifices Anthony would have to make for them to become a match. The Daily News reported Sunday that Anthony had asked a former Bulls player what it was like to play for the demanding and defensive-minded Thibodeau, not long after telling reporters that Thibodeau is 'a great coach, his system kind of reminds me of Gregg Popovich's system.'
This came weeks after ESPN reported Noah to have suggested to Anthony at the All-Star Game in New Orleans that he would be the prefect offensive upgrade replacement for Deng, the kind of transcendent shotmaker the Bulls do not have and are likely to suffer for in the playoffs no matter how hard and intelligently they play.
Finally, Thibodeau had this to say about Anthony and his reputation as a clear-the-wing isolationist Sunday morning: 'It's interesting because with U.S.A. Basketball, they talk about him being a playmaker,' he said. 'He scores and if a guy is open, he passes the ball. I think oftentimes it's who he plays with.'
Added Thibodeau, who was an assistant to Doc Rivers in Boston during a championship run in 2008: 'It's interesting, a lot of the things that you hear about him, I heard about Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen and Paul Pierce before they came together and won it. That changes perception. Carmelo has been one of the elite scorers in the league for a long, long time.'
Speculative translation: On my team, Anthony's virtues would be enhanced and his flaws would be camouflaged. Like those aforementioned former Celtics, playing for and possibly winning a title would make him more venerable and marketable than ever.
Anthony could have other free-agent options that would not require taking less in annual salary in addition to a shorter deal (four years) than the five he could get in New York. Phil Jackson, the Knicks' recently minted president, insisted on Day 1 that he intended to re-sign Anthony, but what else could he say under those introductory circumstances?
Those of us waiting on Thibodeau Sunday night were treated to a brief postgame viewing of Jackson as he and Steve Mills, the general manager, navigated the Garden corridors on their way out. You had to wonder if Jackson, after watching the Knicks hold off the Bulls in the fourth quarter with Anthony on the bench, nursing his sore shoulder, at least debated the benefits of starting over fresh next season, letting the Anthony era peter out with one playoff series victory in four years.
Could the young wing players Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway grow with additional responsibility? Would the franchise ultimately benefit from moving on after being so bad collectively despite Anthony's personal success this season?
If next season were worse, it would not necessarily be a worst-case scenario. The Knicks actually have their 2015 first-round draft pick.
It is often said that in the owner James L. Dolan's world, there must be a celebrity gate attraction to keep the turnstiles churning. But the Garden fan base did not flee during the Donnie Walsh tear-down years. Now the Knicks have Jackson, who is also a star, a sexy sell, associated with 13 championship teams (to none for Anthony), including the Knicks' only two.
There is also a deep talent pool of free agents to shoot for in the summer of 2015 and no great reason to believe they will be pining to partner with a 31-year-old Anthony.
As Thibodeau said, 'it's who he plays with,' and where. Situations make or break even the most supremely talented. All that may stand between Anthony and that bridge to a much better place is a pile of Knicks cash and the mere promise of a Noah-like missionary sailing into New York.
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