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As shootaround got underway at John Jay College in Manhattan on Saturday morning, Bulls center Joakim Noah took to the floor to test the plantar fasciitis in his right foot that plagued him as the regular season came to an end.

How it responds could very well determine if he plays in Saturday’s Game 1 at the Barclays Center in …

Really, what is more appropriate for this Bulls 2012-13 season than to open the playoffs with Chicago defending the Brooklyn Nets’ only All-Star with one of the league’s oldest players, Nazr Mohammed, who barely played the first half of the season when he averaged less than a point and shot 19 percent before the All-Star break.

“It was the master …

So what was the big deal about Brooklyn, anyway? Why do you hear about it so much, even before the monumental Bulls/Nets playoff series about to begin 7 p.m. CT Saturday, the first professional sports playoff series in Brooklyn since the Dodgers’ 1956 World Series?

Yes, a lot of famous people were from there, like Barbra Streisand, George Gershwin, Bobby …

It wasn’t often that Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the Bulls found themselves entering a playoff series as the lower seed. But when it did happen, including twice in the NBA Finals, winning at least one of the first two road games to take control of home court advantage was of vital importance.

So it comes as no surprise that …

The common refrain, actually a cliché about the NBA, is the playoffs begin a new season and nothing much matters before then. If so, the Bulls will sign onto that as they finished a difficult, irregular and probably their most injury plagued season ever Wednesday with a 95-92 victory over the Washington Wizards.

The Bulls will open the playoffs 7 …

The Bulls will open the 2013 NBA Playoffs 7 p.m. CT Saturday in Brooklyn at the new Barclays Center, the Nets’ first ever playoff game in Brooklyn and first major professional sports playoff game in Brooklyn since the 1956 World Series.

While the Bulls have been to the playoff seven of the last eight seasons with a conference finals appearance …

This Bulls team never quite has been the fancy Ferrari or Lexus or Corvette, the dynamic machine that exudes grace and style with extraordinary speed.

It could motor, especially when Derrick Rose was at the controls. But it’s been mostly reliable and strong, perhaps a little lumbering like a Volvo or Buick. But effective, nonetheless, until lately with some sputtering …

The Bulls aren’t whole quite yet, but they are getting closer.

No, Derrick Rose wasn’t scheduled to play against the Orlando Magic Monday. And neither was Vladimir Radmanovic.

But Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson were due to play as the Bulls were able to put out a rotation as complete as any time this season.

In the shadow of Disney …

We know there are no good losses or moral victories in ThibsWorld. So Sunday’s 105-93 Miami Heat win over Chicago went down as the Bulls’ fourth loss in the last five, dropping them to 43-37 and sixth in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the Atlanta Hawks with two games remaining for each team.

But as the Bulls finish their …

The Bulls’ 97-88 loss Friday to the Toronto Raptors, in a sense, celebrated a great American tradition. Some 200 years ago, Americans invaded Canada in the guise of liberation that even then former president Thomas Jefferson declared would be little more difficulty than “a matter or matching.”

So coming off one of their most impressive wins of the season Thursday …