As Derrick Rose makes an inspired return to a playoff stage that desperately missed him, Tom Thibodeau is pushing closer to the end of his run in Chicago.
Amid the twisted culture of Chicago's regime – where winning is losing, where success is failure – management can't wait to rid itself of one Tom Thibodeau.
For everything Chicago management does to undermine the coach, this Bulls locker room has remained something rare in professional sports: unaffected and unrelenting.
Thibodeau promises to be defiant until the end, until someone beats these Bulls four times in the playoffs.