{"id":99474,"date":"2024-10-07T12:24:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T16:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=99474"},"modified":"2024-10-07T12:24:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T16:24:40","slug":"bulls-former-lebron-james-foe-joakim-noah-relives-tense-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/07\/bulls-former-lebron-james-foe-joakim-noah-relives-tense-rivalry\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulls Former LeBron James Foe Relives Tense Rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Chicago Bulls defensive anchor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/n\/noahjo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joakim Noah<\/a> isn\u2019t one to bite his tongue. This resulted to a rivalry of sorts between him and four-time NBA MVP, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>. However, Noah\u2019s history with James goes much further back than 2018, when James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. Their bad blood was spilled back in the days James was leading the Cleveland Cavaliers.<\/p>\n<h2>Bulls Former LeBron James Foe Joakim Noah Relives Tense Rivalry<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cLeBron was so talented and so good sometimes, like\u2026 he would start dancing and it would (tick) me off, you know what I\u2019m saying? Like I\u2019m trying to win,\u201d Noah tells <em>All The Smoke Productions<\/em> co-host Matt Barnes. \u201cIt never happened. I\u2019m still processing. We\u2019re competitors man, at the end of the day. This is the business of competition.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Joakim Noah on LeBron:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s the greatest I ever played against. Gotta give Bron his flowers\u201d <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QTKpAnjBy8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/QTKpAnjBy8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \ud83c\udfad (@MaskedInLA) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MaskedInLA\/status\/1841975318686388691?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 3, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople still talk to me about the Cleveland thing. They think it\u2019s funny, but I think there was a lot of hurt\u2026,\u201d he admits. \u201cYou gotta give the guy his flowers. The guy is all-time great. The greatest I ever played against\u2026 you gotta give Bron his flowers.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Four Strikes, You\u2019re Out!<\/h3>\n<p>Just from the way Noah discusses James, it\u2019s evident that his heart is balled up, holding in the tension from four failed attempts to dethrone the king.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2010 NBA Playoffs, his Bulls lost to the Cavs in five games. In that First Round series, James averaged 31.8 points, 9.2 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 2.4 blocks, and 1.2 steals per game. Even with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rosede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derrick Rose<\/a> playing at an elite level himself, the uphill battle was too steep.<\/p>\n<p>In the 2011 NBA Playoffs, James\u2019s first season with the franchise, Chicago fell to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals after going 62-20 in the regular season. Though the Bulls were an exceptional team, James, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wadedw01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dwyane Wade<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/boshch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chris Bosh<\/a> helped the Heat form what\u2019s now commonly referred to as a superteam. Noah called them \u2018The Heatles\u2019 as a dig at their Hollywood atmosphere. During the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, James led Miami with team-highs of 25.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 2.4 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game.<\/p>\n<p>In the second round of 2013 NBA Playoffs, James faced off against the Bulls again. This time they were led by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/butleji01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jimmy Butler<\/a>, but the results were still the same. James topped Chicago in five games, averaging team-highs of 23.6 points, 7.8 assists, and 2.2 steals per game.<\/p>\n<p>Two years later, in the 2015 NBA Playoffs, James was back with the Cavs and in another conference semifinals throwdown with the Bulls. After six games, he emerged victorious, averaging 26.2 points, 11.0 rebounds, 8.8 assists, 1.7 blocks, and 1.7 steals per game while facing both Rose <em>and<\/em> Butler.<\/p>\n<h3>It Wasn\u2019t Just Joakim Noah<\/h3>\n<p>In Noah\u2019s defense, most players would\u2019ve been frustrated by one opponent frequently stopping them in their tracks. In fact, Sacramento Kings star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/derozde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeMar DeRozan<\/a> called James unbeatable while explaining why he was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/11\/raptors-former-cornerstone-demar-derozan-bold-kawhi-leonard-claim\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">unable to win a championship<\/a> with the Toronto Raptors. Philadelphia 76ers star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul George<\/a> had multiple reasons for leaving the Indiana Pacers but James\u2019s dominance <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/7iqdbnrnfE3wGugwmS9fLz?si=nVFSSttuSuOXcuU3cl1nnQ&amp;nd=1&amp;utm_medium=organic&amp;_branch_referrer=H4sIAAAAAAAAA72NwYrCMBRFvyZdtmMjMygUEbRuFBnCiDtJ06Q%2BjC%2BZl4QyLubbjYK%2FINzF5R4u5xyjD%2FOqCt5FMH%2Bl9L60gJdq4cn1ScXGeY0Fq6cmWXtKZJvz48L4ktVtzgOXr7dy1zxpD8H1Orcv%2BO07JDRrPm7SMF7FzGxvjLcBGF%2FhoRUixiTS%2FqjSD1d2gvj9dElrO6ku7%2FCx%2BhP7TCeF0TIm0o2jQSKo4p%2B00USAw6kjNwZNzc51YLPpQ0gjCe4gb5kRPgEAAA%3D%3D&amp;product=open&amp;%24full_url=https%3A%2F%2Fopen.spotify.com%2Fepisode%2F7iqdbnrnfE3wGugwmS9fLz%3Fsi%3DnVFSSttuSuOXcuU3cl1nnQ&amp;feature=organic&amp;_branch_match_id=1370818159167195545\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">was among them<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>James\u2019s reign over the East is now over, but the vice grip he had on the conference is legendary. Frankly, it might be the closest similarity he has to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordami01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Jordan<\/a>, who is ironically the most iconic player in Bulls\u2019 history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Chicago Bulls defensive anchor Joakim Noah isn\u2019t one to bite his tongue. This resulted to a rivalry of sorts between him and four-time NBA MVP, LeBron James. However, Noah\u2019s history with James goes much further back than 2018, when James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. Their bad blood was spilled back in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":99825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1608,9,26,16,62,3,36],"tags":[97,38,596],"class_list":["post-99474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bulls","category-basketball","category-cavaliers","category-lakers","category-heat","category-nba","category-news","category-podcasts","tag-joakim-noah","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-playoffs"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}