Did one win cost the Bulls a playoff spot

This past Friday as the Bulls took on the Portland Trailblazers in a very exciting overtime victory a choice was made that may cost Chicago a spot in the playoffs.

Joakim Noah who is suffering from Plantar Fasciitis, an injury that will never go away and the only proven treatment is rest, played 27 minutes scoring 8 points grabbing 11 boards and even dishing out 4 assists. All this while playing stellar defense on LaMarcus Aldridge.

But was the win worth it?

This was only Noah's 4th game back after missing 7 games earlier in the month. In the first three games Noah player a total 26 minutes. Most people, myself included, was very confused why the team was even playing Noah since they were playing well winning five of the seven games he missed.

After the game Friday it was being reported that Noah could barely walk and was seen with a bag of ice wrapped around his foot in the locker room. There were several times during the game that Noah looked to be in extreme pain.

Noah sat out Saturday's game vs the Pacers and will miss tonight's game against the Atlanta Hawks.

Heading into an extremely tough stretch of games this month, it again raises the question why the team did not rest him and save him for the stretch run. March features 12 out of the 15 games against teams in the playoff hunt, including two games against the Miami Heat which are currently in 9th place 2 1/2 games behind the Bulls.

The only thing that may keep the Bulls playoff hopes alive if Noah can't return is that both Miami and Toronto are both dealing with injures to their star players, Wade and Bosh respectively. If somehow they survive March there is hope in April when they face Milwaukee and Toronto once and the current 8th place team Bobcats twice including the final game of the season.

There are 23 games left in this season, 13 of which are at home, and they will need at least 10 more wins to make the playoffs and that alone will require them to beat a few teams that they shouldn't. Can they do it without Noah for the majority of those games? I don't know