Joakim Noah Still Doesn’t Like the Miami Heat

It’s not exactly breaking news that Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah is no fan of the Miami Heat. And he’s not afraid to say it. Following the Bulls’ 107-87 win against Miami on Thursday night, Noah explained the Windy City’s dislike of hteir South Beach rivals. Per ESPN: “Noah knows it means more for his team to beat its hated rival any time they face each other. ‘Always,’ he said. ‘Always. No question. I think the people in this city, there’s something about when Miami comes to town. You wake up in the morning, you just feel it. You feel … people in this city, they don’t like [the] Miami Heat. We don’t like the Miami Heat. It always feels good to beat them.’ Why does Noah dislike the Heat so much? ‘A lot of battles,’ he said. ‘A lot of scars. A lot of tough losses. A lot of seasons ending because of them.’ Then Noah acknowledged something that everyone around him has known for weeks — he has been struggling to deal with the fact that Derrick Rose it out again after season-ending knee surgery. Noah has been in a funk since Rose went down Nov. 22 with a torn medial meniscus in his right knee, but in Thursday’s game he racked up 17 points and 15 rebounds. ‘Our team needed [this win],’ Noah said. ‘We’ve been through a lot the last couple weeks. Even for me, I think it’s really hard to play without Derrick. I want to win with Derrick Rose. What Derrick represents to this city, there’s not a lot of players who have that. He brings a lot of hope to the city, and I feed off that. I feel really privileged to be able to play in that position, so him going down was really hard for me, hard for us, but we have to move on and it’s not easy.'”