Although he's not prominently mentioned as a candidate for top coach, it's worth recognizing Scott Skiles' efforts this season. You would never expect a team that started 0-9 to go 10 games over the .500 mark later that season, but the Bulls accomplished that feat after Saturday's 15-point victory over the Bobcats.
Next on the Bulls' to-do list: Claim home-court for the first round of the playoffs.
At the beginning of the season, Chicago would've been content simply to snap the six-year drought between postseason appearances, but considering it has now won 41 of its last 63 (65 percent), there are reasons to think bigger.
They're sharing the basketball, feeding off one another, and getting after it defensively, holding their last 10 opponents under 100. All that comes back to Skiles and what he stresses.
"This is something special. I hope that all the young guys on the team understand that streaks like this don't come around very often in the NBA," said Piatkowski. "It just doesn't happen. You can play many, many years in this league, unless you are fortunate to have Shaquille O'Neal on your team or have a team like maybe the Detroit Pistons or San Antonio Spurs are right now, it's tough to do things like that."
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