Chicago Bulls All-Star center Joakim Noah doesn’t think he will play Monday night against the Indiana Pacers because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot, and power forward Carlos Boozer is a game-time decision because of a right hamstring injury.
The Bulls already are without two starters in Kirk Hinrich (elbow) and Derrick Rose, who is still recovering from ACL surgery. The Bulls lost to the Brooklyn Nets minus those four players on Friday but came back on Saturday to beat the Hawks in Atlanta.
“I feel pretty good, but just give it a couple more days and try to go on Thursday [at Denver],” Noah said before Monday’s shootaround. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go tonight, but I’m just moving in the right direction and hopefully by Thursday I’ll be ready to go.”
Noah has missed the past two games with plantar fasciitis, the same injury he dealt with for most of the season three years ago. He believes he caught the injury much earlier this time.
“The one in [the 2009-10 season] I just kept playing through it,” Noah said. “I kept playing through it, I probably played with it for a month until I couldn’t anymore.
“This [time], I stopped a lot earlier. I probably played on it for maybe five, six games and I just knew what direction it was going in. In [2009-10], I just tried to act like it wasn’t there and just play through it and it was a mistake. I feel like with a couple more days of treatment I think I’ll be OK.”
That treatment includes rest — something Noah has tried to get plenty of over the last few days.
“Rest, ice, laser treatment,” he said. “I actually shot around [Sunday], but no jumping, no running, just resting really.”
Noah is confident that with some more treatment he can get rid of the problem for the rest of the year.
“I feel like you definitely learn from your experiences,” he said. “I’ve been through this before so I kind of know what to expect and I’ve gotten all the treatment for this before, and I’m hoping that a couple more days rest and I’ll be back at 100 percent and I won’t have to deal with this anymore.”
As for Boozer, he seems more confident he may be able to play Monday night. He has missed the past three games because of the hamstring injury that he originally suffered in the first quarter a week ago against the Bobcats.
“It will be a game-time [decision], but I feel good,” he said. “If it feels good, I’ll be out there.”
Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau officially termed both players as game-time decisions, but he also sounded more confident that Boozer would be able to play.
“He’s feeling better,” Thibodeau said of Boozer. “We’ll see where he is tonight. Each day he’s gotten better, he’s close.”
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