Red all about it: Noah, Rose salute ‘crazy’ fans

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A Bulls fan shows her support for Derrick Rose and Kyle Korver. | Jonathan Daniel~Getty Images

Updated: May 25, 2011 12:43AM

INDIANAPOLIS — Both teams seemed amazed by the huge number of Bulls fans in the sellout crowd of 18,165 at Conseco Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Fans wearing red (and black) seemed to occupy half the seats.

‘‘The love for the Chicago Bulls is crazy right now,’’ center Joakim Noah said. ‘‘We love it. We thrive off that. We’re excited to go back home. We get a lot of love there, too.’’

With love comes responsibility, though.

‘‘It’s good,’’ Noah said. ‘‘It gives us confidence. But we realize it’s on us to put in the work and make them happy.’’

Guard Derrick Rose attributes the Bulls’ vast following to the six titles won by the teams led by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

‘‘This is great, but it isn’t because of us,’’ Rose said. ‘‘It’s the people before, like Pip and Mike. They laid down the foundation for us. Our fan base is unbelievable.’’

Even the Pacers were taken aback.

‘‘When we came out there and saw half the crowd was in all red,’’ Roy Hibbert said, ‘‘we were like, ‘Wow!’ When we were at the free-throw line, they were booing us. That doesn’t happen too often. We used that as fuel, and then real [Pacers] fans really got going.’’

Ready to return

Despite the loss, the Bulls aren’t losing sight of what they want to accomplish.

‘‘We gave them too much of a cushion,’’ forward Carlos Boozer said. ‘‘Give them credit. .  .  . I thought our defense was pretty good. When you hold them under 90 points and under 40 percent shooting from the floor, usually you win those games. But we’ll learn from it and be ready for the next one.’’

Noah also said the Bulls’ confidence is not shaken.

‘‘It’s a tough loss,’’ Noah said. ‘‘We didn’t play well in the first half again. We definitely have to do a better job with that. But we’re a team that deals with adversity pretty well. .  .  . And the playoffs have to go through Chi-town. We’re excited about that.’’

Noah on Rose

Noah had this to say about ‘‘Pooh’’ Rose, whose gimpy ankle contributed to his inability to put the Bulls on his back for a fourth consecutive game.

‘‘Pooh’s a warrior,’’ Noah said. ‘‘He wants to be out there and compete. Even Pooh not at 100 percent, he still affects the game just with his presence. They did a good job of putting two on him. Then it’s on us to make a play. We did that pretty well at times. But we’ll get better at it, too.’’

Note-a-Bull

The Bulls were the second NBA team in 28 years to lead a best-of-seven series 3-0 without holding any halftime leads. The first, the Seattle SuperSonics, swept the Houston Rockets 4-0 in the second round in 1996. The Bulls will have to do it another way.

† The Bulls’ 12-game winning streak ended. This was their first loss since they were beaten by the Philadelphia 76ers 97-85 on
March 28 at the United Center.