You knew that Joakim Noah wouldn’t miss a chance to battle a LeBron James led team regardless of injury.
Noah missed all but one of the Bulls preseason games, and that led to speculation that he might miss the teams season opener against the Heat, as well as a a few regular season games.
Noah says that’s behind him now, and declared himself ’100 percent’ ready for the Heat according to Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago.
Noah … said earlier in the week it was possible that he would miss the opener but now appears confident he will be able to play. He went through all of Sunday’s practice without any limitations.
“I feel pretty good,” Noah said. “[Practice is] different than a game but I feel good and I’m really excited about Tuesday.”
Noah said he really didn’t consider actually sitting out against the Heat.
“I think if my groin was still bothering me we’d have to talk about it because I didn’t want it to linger on all season,” he said. “It would have been really tough to sit out a game that I’ve been waiting for all summer. I’ve been training for this game all summer. So it would have been tough but we got to think big picture.”
Noah admitted that opening up against the defending champion Heat means a little more to him.
“Of course,” he said. “Duh. Every time you play against Miami it’s a statement [game]. It’s the beginning of our season, we’re a hungry group. We’ve been waiting for this game for a long time. It’s one of 82 but we know every time we play against Miami it’s important.”
