Impressing hard-driving Thibodeau a tough task for Bulls

With Tom Thibodeau, the Chicago Bulls' first-year coach, satisfaction and progress in the product he and his players put out on the floor is measured in the tiniest increments. The raising of one eyebrow by a fraction of an inch. A bit more glimmer in his eyes when something goes right from the first second of a possession to the 24th.

Thibodeau, on the Bulls sideline, comes across as one of those grinds who is impossible to please. The Chicago players pretty much know they will never entirely turn his frowns upside down. They settle, every so often, for getting Thibodeau himself to sit down.

"He shows [satisfaction] sometimes," forward Taj Gibson said Monday after Chicago's 111-91 victory over the Toronto Raptors at United Center. "But one thing about him is, he doesn't just relax. He wants us to keep pushing. You see him on the sideline, you see the intensity."

That's how it is, striving for perfection: Every day starts at zero. When the Bulls let the Raptors shoot 52.6 percent in the first quarter Tuesday night, with center Andrea Bargnani going outside beyond -- or inside right past -- Kurt Thomas and Carlos Boozer, that sour taste stuck with Thibodeau all night. So even with his team up by more than 20 points in the fourth, the coach still was micro-managing their defensive play. Gibson, more mobile and willing to chase as well as bang Bargnani, had at least salved that wound.