He's off to another great start for the Bulls, but could head coach Tom Thibodeau's team be preparing for life without Joakim Noah? According to ESPNchicago.com's Nick Friedell, that's a real possibility. Even though Noah & Derrick Rose (wrist/ankle) are expected to play tonight in Toronto vs. the Raptors at the Air Canada Centre, there is concern among team officials that Noah's right hand, and specifically his thumb could be really troublesome.

General Manager Gar Forman tells ESPNChicago.com that there could be ligament damage in that thumb, which Noah initially injured in the road game at Sacramento last month and tweaked it December 4th in a 119-116 win over the Rockets at United Center. Joakim will be re-evaluated when the Bulls return home tomorrow from their one-game trip North of the Border. If Noah has to undergo surgery, he could be out a minimum of 8 weeks. Noah has been averaging 14 points per game & 12 rebounds per game so far this season. He is one of the reasons for the Bulls currently in first place in the NBA Central Division with a 15-8 record and going for a seventh straight win tonight.

SCALABRINE TIME

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No matter how bad the Raptors are, the Bulls usually find a way to look bad when they play in Toronto. Tonight, an odd Raptor will drop 35 and the Bulls will lose by 17. Raptors basketball makes me drowsy.

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Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

I for one will be scouting the Asik v. Bargnani matchup

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You know the Comcast SportsNet cameras will take a long, hard look at Chuck Swirsky at courtside during tonight's game...After all, he called a lot of those Raptors' games long before they became really bad at basketball...

Omer wins that matchup. Smelly Turk>Smelly Italian

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you know they don't have Damon Stoudemire anymore, right?

Do they still have Mo Pete?

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Good battle. Didn't the Turks kick the crap out of the Romans? Where is IMU17 when I need a history lesson?

I would have agreed that this would happen in previous years. They'll literally smoke the Raptors tonight...

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Zan Tabak

Didn't Jarrett Jack go off on em last season?

Also, Leandro Barbosa and Jerryd Bayless both have that funky, "get red hot at any moment" ability. I'm not saying the Raptors are good by any stretch of the imagination.

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Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Jarrett Jack was traded earlier this season.

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I know. That's why I only mentioned Barbosa and Bayless. The Jarrett Jack reference was to last season. Point being, odd Raptors players torch the Bulls in Toronto sometimes.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

My newly acquired Fantasy gem Ed Davis is going to drop 50 tonight.

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were gonna have issues if noah goes out for 2 months... not having boozer isnt as bad because the dropoff in defense isnt that huge. without noah were like the bears D without urlacher (brian is better, im not saying he isnt, just the same type of deal when noah is gone)

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Not good.

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Second City Saint

Its not gonna be good if he goes out but it won't be disasterous. Boozer is just about back into full basketball shape and Taj will rack up even more mins which isn't a bad thing. It also helps that the central is pretty weak.
Hopefully there's no surgery needed and he only misses a few games/week so the hand heals up a bit

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"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

out 10 weeks

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/12/bulls-noah-to-have-surgery-on-right-thumb.html

Alvin Robertson looked good tonight.

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What a damn shame. Hopefully Kurt Thomas can give them 20 quality minutes per game. If they win the Central, they are guaranteed no lower than the 4 seed. And they should still win the fucking Central.

exactly. I don't think this puts them in jeopardy of losing the Central. the schedule doesn't really get tough again until the end of Feb, which would be about 8 weeks from now. In those 8 weeks the only hard games are Boston, Miami, Dallas & Orlando. That's 4 games among about 20 crappy ones. Beginning of March you have the SE swing- at Miami, Orlando and Atlanta then NO, Utah, Atlanta again- so I think if he comes back by end of Feb/beginning of March they should be fine.

they might lose a little size going with Taj but I don't think going small(er) is going to hurt them that much- maybe against Orlando or Lakers or teams with massive frontlines...but in any case while I'm certainly disappointed I'm not crushed.

hey, they have to face the Surging Sixers next week...tough matchup!

Stop playing NBA Live '96.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"