Game 6 preamble: Coaches want to move past rough stuff

Any sports-minded person who walked down the street or turned on the radio the past two days probably got a sense that Bulls fans are expecting, maybe hoping, for some retaliation in tonight's Game 6. Fans seem to be sore about the smack in the mouth Rajon Rondo delivered to Brad Miller at the end of Game 5 and several other hard fouls from the Celtics.

Both coaches were asked before Thursday's game how they'll deal with that atmosphere.

“Move on from that stuff,” said Boston coach Doc Rivers. “At the end of the day, you have to play basketball. You have to understand there are hard fouls in the game. We've been the recipient of quite a few ourselves. But you have to have the mental toughness to play through that. That's just the league in general.”

Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro stressed that his team needs to play smart, but enforced the need to better protect the basket.

“Playoff basketball is physical basketball,” Del Negro said. “I think we've been giving too many layups. But you want to be smart about it, you can't afford to get a bunch of technicals and flagrants and all that and give a team like Boston free points at the free-throw line. I expect our guys to come out and play hard like they have and not back down and play as physical as we need to play to get a win.”

KID STUFF TO RILEY'S KNICKS
When discussing the physical nature of his team, Doc Rivers reminded reporters that he played for an ultra-physical New York Knicks team coached by Pat Riley in 1992-93.

“First of all, I don't know if we are that physical, honestly,” Rivers said. “I played on a team in New York that would laugh at this, I can tell you that. So I don't know if we are that physical.

“We are who we are. We're not going to change our stripes. We play hard. We're aggressive. We've very serious about trying to win games. But that's about it. I don't know if there is anyone that physical anymore.”

PREDICTING THE FOULS
The Game 6 officiating crew is Joe Crawford, Ed Malloy and Derrick Stafford. That's a veteran group and Crawford might be one of the most no-nonsense referees in the league.

Vinny Del Negro was asked if he expects the refs to call things close with a little bad blood lingering from Game 5.

“If someone tells you they know, they're guessing,” he said. “It depends on how the flow of the game goes. The only thing I think is you want consistency. If they're going to let it be physical in the first part, let it be physical in the fourth. If they're going to play it tight, just be consistent. I think both coaches can handle that and both teams. Then you know what to expect.”

GORDON READY TO GO
All indications are that Ben Gordon will continue to play through a left hamstring strain and be in the starting lineup for Game 6, barring a late setback.