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It’s the Bulls playing the Miami Heat Thursday at the United Center on national TNT, and the Bulls know what’s coming.

Heck, they knew it a few minutes after beating the Heat last month in Miami.

“I know (coach Erik) Spoelstra is going to come in and I know what’s going to happen,” Joakim Noah said after famously suggesting that …

It wasn’t the block for Joakim Noah against Zach Randolph early in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game won by the Western Conference All-Stars 143-138, or dunking that pass from LeBron James on the pick and roll, or the crossover drive for a basket, the defensive stand against eventual game MVP Chris Paul or the exasperation with the officials for not getting …

Joakim Noah, collegiate champion, iconoclast, innovative wardrobe manager with a career 8.9 scoring average his first two seasons, once suspended by his teammates, anthropology who clearly has evolved and is fond of talking about “swag,” is now an NBA All-Star.

Noah landed his first All-Star appearance and was joined by Luol Deng, making his second All-Star appearance.

Yes, the Bulls …

The Bulls should be represented at the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 17 in Houston.

The question is by whom.

My guess is it will be Joakim Noah, but it won’t be determined until next week when the Eastern Conference coaches select the All-Star reserves.

The NBA Thursday on TNT announced the starters for the 62nd annual event.

The Eastern …

That’s it! That’s all you got?

Well, nobody on the Bulls actually said that after a convincing and impressive 96-89 road win Friday over the defending champion Miami Heat. But the Bulls in going to 18-13 essentially said that with their dominant play.

No one is quite writing off the Heat yet as they still lead the Eastern Conference with …

Derrick Rose will be there in Miami Friday when the Bulls get their first crack this season at the defending champion Miami Heat. But it’s not quite the same, obviously, with Rose sidelined likely another few months recovering from his knee injury and surgery.

These were the kind of games you circled the calendar for the last few years, the …

Will Joakim Noah be an All-Star this season?

It’s looking like it will be a close call with the NBA Thursday releasing the second voting returns.

Noah remains seventh among Eastern Conference frontcourt players. The fan voting is for three front court players as the center position was eliminated this season and two backcourt players.

The second results were similar …

It was a good thing Joakim Noah didn’t add Houston to that list of questionable vacation cities, like Cleveland and Philadelphia, when the Bulls were there last month.

Because based on the first All-Star game returns released by the NBA Thursday, my guess is Noah has a good chance of being added to the team that will play in Houston …

After all those mostly underperforming “M’s,” — Minnesota, Milwaukee and Memphis — the Bulls get a look at a real contender Tuesday at the United Center, the Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder.

Though mostly overshadowed by the Lakers and their high profile additions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, most around the NBA still consider the Thunder the favorites …

The Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers open the NBA playoffs Saturday at noon Central time in the United Center. And if the first round doesn’t hold all that potential suspense—though there is some with Miami and the Knicks—then the answer to the ultimate question certainly does.

Because the identity of a potential champion is as uncertain this season as it’s ever …