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PHILADELPHIA -- Rip Hamilton was billed as the missing piece on a championship-caliber team when he signed with the Chicago Bulls this offseason. On Sunday, he watched from the bench in the fourth quarter as his team -- playing without the superstar he was expecting to complement -- dropped its third consecutive playoff game.

Needless to say, this isn't the journey Hamilton figured he would be embarking when the playoffs started last week.

"It happens," Hamilton said after Sunday's Game 4 loss to the Sixers that put Chicago in a 3-1 series hole. "This is the game, this is the NBA, this is the playoffs. You want to perform at your best and you want to win games and you want to win a World Championship, but nothing comes easy. If it was easy everybody would have championships, so we just got to figure it out."

After scoring 19 points on just seven shots in Game 1, Hamilton has struggled from the field in the past three games, shooting just 11-for-34. It got so bad on Sunday that Thibodeau decided to sit Hamilton in favor of veteran guard Kyle Korver.

After dealing with various injuries throughout the season, Hamilton admitted that the Bulls' past week has been tough to deal with.

"It's hard," he said. "When you're in the playoffs, you can see it all across the league, man, I've never seen this many injuries, especially in a high level like in a playoff series, especially key guys being out. But it is what it is. What are you going to do? It's one of them things that you've got to figure out and hopefully try to win games."

Hamilton, who actually came back from a 3-1 playoff deficit with the Detroit Pistons earlier in his career, knows that the Bulls face a serious uphill battle to get back into this series. When asked what his team needed to do to get a win in Game 5, his answer was telling.

"A lot," he said. "The biggest thing is we have been keeping the game in the 80's where we want the game to be. We kind of contained their transition and things like that, it's just that when we have a lead we got to try and increase it, we can't just play the score and play possession by possession. When we got a lead, like we had the last couple games, we just got to try to put the game away."

CHICAGO -- Let's take a quick look at how the Chicago Bulls breezed past the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-75 Thursday night at the United Center.

How it happened: Joakim Noah had another big game, going off for 13 points and 12 rebounds in 30 minutes. John Lucas III added 25 points while Taj Gibson chipped in 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Bulls finish the regular season with a 50-16 record.

What it means: Playing without Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Kyle Korver (rest), the Bulls did exactly what they were supposed to do: They crushed the Cavs and got themselves mentally prepared for the postseason. While the game was boring to most spectators, it looked good to Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau because nobody else got hurt and his team played with the kind of edge he wants it to have -- even in a game that didn't seem to matter much on the surface. Thibodeau always talks about not "skipping steps" so he has to like where they're at heading into the playoffs.

Stat of the night: With the win, the Bulls' clinch the NBA's best regular season record for the second year in a row. They will have homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs.

Winning with ease: How easy was this game for the Bulls? The lineup of Brian Scalabrine, Jimmy Butler, Mike James, Omer Asik and Lucas closed things out for Thibodeau.

What's next: The Bulls face off against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Saturday.

CLEVELAND -- Let's take a quick look at how the Chicago Bulls earned a blowout 112-91 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

How it happened: Luol Deng had his best game in weeks, scoring 24 points (15 in the first quarter), grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists. Derrick Rose had another big night, going off for 19 points and nine assists while Carlos Boozer added 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Bulls played one of their most complete games of the year on both ends of the floor. Their defense was on-point most of the night and they did whatever they wanted to do on offense.

What it means: The Bulls did exactly what they were supposed to do in this one. The Cavs didn't have Kyrie Irving (ill) and the Bulls ran up and down the floor all night. Rose played the same way he's played all season, but it was Deng and Rip Hamilton who will probably make Tom Thibodeau smile more than anyone else. Deng found his offensive rhythm early and looked like the All-Star he became earlier in the year. After struggling to find his shot, Deng looked comfortable from the outset and it showed. As for Hamilton, he scored 10 points in 20 minutes and appears to be getting back into shape. That is good news for the Bulls considering they will need both to be healthy and playing well heading into the postseason.

Stat of the night: The Bulls shot 53 percent from the field.

Bold play of the game: Deng's first quarter -- He went 6-of-9 from the field and knocked down plenty of open jumpers. His performance set the tone for the rest of the team.

What's next: The Bulls go for their sixth win in a row against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday night. They'll be looking for payback considering that the 76ers already beat them once in Philadelphia a couple weeks ago.

CLEVELAND -- Cavaliers rookie guard Kyrie Irving is not playing against Chicago because of the flu.

Irving is active for Friday's game against the Bulls, but the team said he would not play about 45 minutes before tip-off.

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NEW ORLEANS -- As much as he tries to downplay injuries, Derrick Rose's back is still bothering him. Rose played just 22 minutes in Wednesday night's win over the Hornets, scoring six points.

"The back is kind of tight," Rose said after the game. "Thibs did a great job with managing my minutes right when we saw that we had the game put away."

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau knows he's going to have to keep a close eye on Rose for the next couple of days.

"He says he feels pretty good," Thibodeau said. "So he's just got to each day, do his rehab, take care of himself. Get his rest, get his massage, and we go from there."

Thibs inching closer to All-Star berth: With just a couple more wins, Thibodeau will lock up an All-Star berth of his own. He'll be the head coach for the Eastern Conference All-Stars in Orlando at the end of the month.

"I know that that's something that he'd [like] the honor of doing, coaching that game" Rose said. "But if he's coach and I'm on the team, I'd love it."

So would Luol Deng, another potential All-Star.

"It doesn't get any better than that," Deng said. "Whether I'm there or not. First of all, for Derrick to make it ... Derrick making it and getting MVP, you always feel part of it because you're out there with him every night. And now if the coaches get it, you're even more happy because you've got the best record and your coaches are getting recommended, so it just shows what we're doing in here."

Of course, Thibodeau isn't thinking like that.

"Good try," Thibodeau said, cutting off the question. "The challenge for everybody is to stay focused on what's important. That is only our next game. Study, get ready for Charlotte. If you start looking ahead to the break, or you look behind, that's when you're going to have a misstep. So the challenge is to stay focused on the things that are important which is getting ready for Charlotte. And that's it. Don't get side-tracked. And winning takes care of everything. And that's all we have to take care of. Study."

The last word: "We're playing well right now. We're coming out early, defending, running the floor, getting the lead and playing well with it. We just got to keep doing that," -- Deng.

CLEVELAND -- Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose said he has "a little regret" about playing two games last weekend on an injured toe that now threatens to keep him out of a third straight game.

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Already owners of the No. 1 pick in the draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers are trying to sweeten their position by securing the second pick as well, according to league sources.

The Cavaliers are in discussions with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Detroit Pistons about a three-team trade that would give Cleveland the top two picks of next month's NBA draft.

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CHICAGO -- A very famous bald man once said, "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."

No, not Zydrunas Ilgauskas. It was Gandhi.

Of course, Gandhi wasn't a Cavaliers fan.

There are plenty of strong people in the greater Cleveland area and across its vast diaspora, but you won't find many willing to forgive LeBron James for fleeing their basketball team, their city, on live television last summer.

In that time, the hate for James, now of the Miami Heat, has died down, the natural result of time turning white-hot rage into a more ingrained, more familiar bitterness. Cleveland's sports fans are used to dealing with failure and overcoming their own ennui.

But the overall feeling toward James has remained the same. Cleveland wants to watch him lose, and for once, enjoy it.

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CLEVELAND -- Let's take a quick look at how the Chicago Bulls earned a 93-82 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

How it happened: The Bulls did what they've done all season. They played solid defense, got contributions from their bench and closed the game out at the end. Carlos Boozer had 24 points and 11 rebounds. Ronnie Brewer added 12 points, while Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose added 11 each.

What it means: With the win, the Bulls have clinched the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. They will face the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 on either Saturday, April 16, or Sunday, April 17. For a team that wasn't expected by most to challenge for a title this season, clinching the top seed is a major accomplishment. No doubt, Tom Thibodeau will not allow his team to rest on its laurels now though. The Bulls want to accomplish much bigger things.

Stat of the night: The Bulls outscored the Cavs 46-30 in the paint.

What's next: The Bulls have a day off on Saturday before facing off against the Orlando Magic on Sunday afternoon. They'll be looking for their seventh win in a row. They'll also be playing a Magic team that won't have Dwight Howard. He was suspended yet again after picking up another technical foul earlier in the week.

CHICAGO -- Let's take a quick look at how the Chicago Bulls earned a 92-79 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night at the United Center.

How it happened: Derrick Rose finished with 24 points and 8 assists as the Bulls clawed out their fifth win in six games. Luol Deng had a solid night with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Carlos Boozer made his return a good one, racking up 20 points and 10 rebounds.

What it means: Not much. The Cavs are awful. The Bulls played down to their competition again. The only positive on this night for the Bulls was that they got the win and nobody got hurt. There aren't many other positives Tom Thibodeau will be able to pull out of this one. His team's defense had a nice night holding the Cavs to just 32 percent shooting from the field, but it's a safe bet the players won't be happy with their performance. They could have played much better and they know it.

Stat of the night: The Bulls closed the game out on a 15-4 run.

What's next: Like almost everyone else in Chicago, most of the Bulls will be in front of their television sets watching the Chicago Bears play the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game. Rose and company will be back on the floor Monday night when the Milwaukee Bucks come to town.

CLEVELAND -- Derrick Rose was literally sick to his stomach after watching the way his team played Wednesday night.

And the scary part is that his team actually won.

"I still can't eat right now," Rose said half an hour after his team scratched out an 88-83 win over the Cavs. "The way we played, my stomach's messed up [at] just the thought of us losing that game. No way can [I] accept that, the way we played. We played terrible, but we're thankful to get this win."

Suffice it to say the Bulls didn't really play well against the lowly Cavs. After starting the game on a 10-0 run, the team looked flat throughout most of the contest. They struggled to find any consistency on offense, and their defense left a lot to be desired. Quite simply, had it not been for Rose coming up yet again in the clutch, the Bulls would not have won their third straight contest.

"There's no denying it," Bulls center Joakim Noah said. "We didn't play our best basketball tonight. Against the elite teams in the NBA, it's not going to get it done."

That's the message that Tom Thibodeau wants his team to take out of the game. They cannot play the way they did and expect to knock off the upper-echelon teams in the league. The Bulls cannot continue to rely on Rose to save them late in games because there will be some nights on which he just can't do it. Unlike the past week during which the Bulls' biggest issue seemed to be on the defensive end, Thibodeau is now concerned, at least after Wednesday night, that the team is struggling to find its offensive groove.

"I didn't like us offensively," Thibodeau admitted. "I thought we played a low energy game. So we didn't get into transition and we didn't get any easy scores. And when we did get opportunities, we didn't convert."

The truth, as Thibodeau and his players know, is that they had no business allowing Cleveland to hang around in that game. The Cavs were playing the second night of a back-to-back and their fourth game in five nights. Not to mention that the Bulls have an abundance of something the Cavs don't: talent.

That's why the mood in the locker was somewhat somber after the game. The Bulls knew they escaped with a win. But how do they turn things around when they feel themselves playing with no energy during stretches of games?

"That's the challenge," Thibodeau said. "You have to bring energy every game. You got to prepare yourself well. We should have had fast-break opportunities because we were able to get stops for a good part of the game."

Noah echoed his coach's sentiments, trying to explain how his team could get back on track before a big game with the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night.

"The thing is, we're a team that wants to get out on the break," Noah said. "And to do that we need to get stops. And I think we did a pretty good job, we got stops, but for some reason we didn't convert very well on the break today. And that's definitely something we need to do better. I don't know what the numbers were or anything, but I feel we can definitely play better in transition. We scored in the 80s and won the game. It's a good thing, but we just got to improve and keep getting better. We're definitely a work in progress."

After seeing them slog through Wednesday night's contest, there's doubt about that. If the Bulls play like that against the Lakers, they're going to be in trouble.

"Right now we're playing with fire," Rose said. "We're playing terrible right now letting teams come back. But hopefully we learn from it in the right way; Where we end the way we're playing like that, non chalant, very early. If not, we're going to lose and it's going to hurt very bad in those situations."

CLEVELAND -- Let's take a quick look at how the Bull escaped with a 88-83 win on Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

How it happened: After going on a 10-0 run to start the game, the Bulls looked flat throughout the rest of the contest. The saving grace for them was that they simply had more talent than the Cavs. Simply, they had Derrick Rose and the Cavs didn't. Rose had 29 points and made several crucial plays down the stretch, including the game-winning three-point play with 19.6 seconds left. He was one of the only Bulls who played with any kind of consistent energy throughout the game and he was the player who made the difference.

What it means: The Bulls played one of their worst games of the year and still won. Tom Thibodeau was worried about the game, and how his team respond. That worry was obviously warranted. The Bulls played down to their competition and were lucky to sneak out with a win. They'll be able to do that against weak team like the Cavs. If they do that against the elite teams in the league, they will never be able to get to where they want to go this season.

Stat of the night: Rose was 11-of-22 from the floor with 8 assists and 4 rebounds.

What's next: The Bulls will be looking for revenge Friday night when the Lakers come to the United Center. It will be interesting to see how much different the two teams matchup now that Carlos Boozer is back on the floor for the Bulls. He missed last month's game in Los Angeles because of a broken pinky.

CLEVELAND -- Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah understands the pain Cleveland Cavalier fans are going through after LeBron James' departure over the summer.

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DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Having endured his own messy divorce from the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2004, Chicago Bulls forward Carlos Boozer can empathize with the type of reception that will greet LeBron James on Thursday night.

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CHICAGO -- As Cleveland's sports universe struggles with yet another disappointment in the wake of LeBron James spurning the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat, a Friday news conference in Chicago serves as a reminder of another former Cavs star who got away.

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