ORLANDO -- If the Chicago Bulls can improve to 10-4 without Derrick Rose, that means they will have downed the Orlando Magic and entered Tom Thibodeau into NBA history.
With Rose out again, Thibodeau is trying to break Avery Johnson's record for fastest to 100 victories. His career mark is 99-30, and Johnson went 100-31 to begin his tenure with the Dallas Mavericks.
"That doesn't mean anything other than I want to win and beat Orlando," Thibodeau said, when asked about the potential honor. "That's the only thing that matters. All that other stuff, meaningless. Stuff like that, it's more a reflection of the team and organization. We have good players, great management, great ownership. That's a reflection of the organization really."
Regardless, Magic coach Stan Van Gundy raved about Thibodeau, who also has a chance to be the first back-to-back Coach of the Year in league history.
"There are a lot of great coaches in this league and a lot of people have done great jobs both last year and this year," Van Gundy said. "But nobody---nobody---has done a better job than Tom has. And he's probably doing even a better job this year than he did a year ago. With all the injuries they've had, they just keeping rolling along. I said to my assistants the other day, they could probably have all five starters out and they'd still beat everybody. It just seems like they win no matter what.
"To me, they're the best team in the league as far as a team collectively playing together, being unselfish, being committed defensively."
Rose remains out with his strained groin. Richard Hamilton remains out with his sprained right shoulder. Luol Deng and C.J. Watson are playing despite their nagging injuries.
The teams have split two meetings this far this season.
kcjohnson@tribune.com
Twitter @kcjhoop
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