The Bulls and Wizards re-acquainted themselves tonight after going at in the first round of the playoffs last season as the No. 4 and 5 seed in the East. New Wizard addition Paul Pierce has already endeared himself to the Wiz faithful while continuing to be an annoying jab in the side of the Bulls, particularly center Joakim Noah, who probably still has the imprint of Pierce’s index finger on his forehead. We’ll explain after the jump.
Here’s the scene. Jimmy Butler is dribbling up the court and appears to get clotheslined by Pierce; although, it’s unclear how hard Butler was really hit and whether it really knocked his head back as much as his reaction might indicate (note, we don’t think it’s a flop, but any contact thought to be exaggerated is now considered a catch-all for flop by NBA fans who would literally be in the hospital if they were hit by men this size in real life).
Personally, Pierce comes a little high on Butler — especially for a preseason game.
Still, the former Celtic and Net — as is his usual fashion — decides to exchange pleasantries with what appears to be the entire Bulls side. He must have said something to piss off Noah because it turned into a little shoving match and that’s when Pierce pokes Noah in the forehead (we’re guessing he was aiming for his eye).
Best part about little the tete a tete between Noah and Pierce is the flustered appearance of Tom Thibodeau in the middle of the whole thing. Thibs is so obviously flustered by this nonsense in preseason, you know those poor Bulls are gonna be running defensive rotation drills and wind sprints all day tomorrow — it’ll almost be like everyone actually played 48 minutes tonight, as is custom for his starters.
Man, we missed NBA player posturing more than you know.
(GIFs via @_MarcusD_)
What do you think?
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