CHICAGO - With seven double-doubles in his previous eight games, Carlos Boozer has helped keep the Bulls relevant with starters Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and Richard Hamilton out.
Boozer's strong play hasn't gone unnoticed.
"Other than the first month of his first year, he has been very durable," coach Tom Thibodeau said of Boozer. "He practices every day, he plays every day. You can count on his points and his rebounds. He has done a terrific job for us. There's a better understanding of what we're trying to get done.
"People have to search him out and you can play off him. He's a very unselfish player. If you cut and you're open, he's going to hit you. He plays the right way and has added a lot to our team. When you look at what he has done when we've had our whole team, the winning percentage is very high."
Nate Robinson echoed his coach's high praise of Boozer, who had 29 points and 18 rebounds in Thursday night's victory at Brooklyn.
"Carlos has been holding it down all season," Robinson said. "He plays hard, does his thing and gets us going. We know we have to go inside-out for him and he's going to make it easy for everybody else.
Backing out? Although Thibodeau sounded optimistic about both Noah (plantar fasciitis) and Marco Belinelli (abdominal strain) returning to action very soon, he wasn't as hopeful when discussing Hamilton's lingering lower back injury.
It appears Hamilton might not return this season. Thibodeau wouldn't confirm it, but his tone spoke volumes.
Hamilton did some light sprinting during pregame warmups.
Noah, Belinelli, Rose, Hamilton and Taj Gibson (knee) all sat out Friday.
Scoreboard watching: The Bulls entered Friday fifth in the Eastern Conference playoff standings, 11/2 games behind the Nets for the fourth spot and home-court advantage.
Thibodeau vowed to avoid scoreboard watching down the stretch.
"You don't want to change your approach," he said. "If you start looking ahead or behind, you lose sight of what's important - that's to continue to concentrate on our daily improvement and the opponent we're facing that particular night.
"You're always striving to be playing your best going down the stretch. And you have to be as healthy as possible."
• Read more articles by VAUGHN MCCLURE
Order Reprint
About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.