CHICAGO—The 45th regular season in Bulls franchise history began and ended with boldness. Last September Derrick Rose surprised many when he calmly—and likely presciently—asked why he couldn’t be the league’s most valuable player. And on Wednesday night at United Center, the Bulls, led by a clutch effort from the bench, rallied to down the New Jersey Nets, 97-92, to keep announcing to the league that they’re playoff-ready.

“I remember when he said that it was like people were laughing,” Joakim Noah said.

“Look at what he’s done now. It’s the same thing with our team. When we said we could compete with anybody, people were like, ‘Yeah, we don’t know if you can compete against those elite teams.’

“We had a helluva season. Now it’s time to turn it up a gear.”

The Bulls earned home-court advantage throughout the playoffs with erstwhile leader San Antonio’s 106-103 loss to Phoenix.

The Bulls also finished tied with the Spurs for the league’s best home mark at 36-5 and posted the third-best, single-season turnaround in franchise history by improving by 21 games.

Rasual Butler’s three-pointer with 46.1 seconds left pushed the Bulls ahead for good at 92-90. Taj Gibson and Kurt Thomas then teamed to reject Brook Lopez, leading to C.J. Watson splitting two free throws with 22.8 seconds left. Gibson rebounded Jordan Farmar’s miss and made two free throws with 17.3 seconds left. Kyle Korver, who led the Bulls with 19 points, then iced it with two more with 10.4 seconds left.

“We have a really deep team,” Korver said.

Rose, of course, had the most to do with this season’s story.

He became the seventh player in National Basketball Association history to post averages of at least 25 points, 7.5 assists and four rebounds in a single season, joining heavyweights Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James. He also became the fifth player—and first point guard—to post 2,000 points, 600 assists and 300 rebounds in the same season.

Rose also joined Jordan as the only Bulls to finish in the top 10 in scoring and assists in the same season, which Jordan achieved in 1988-89. No wonder he deserved a mini-break against the Nets, logging just 30 minutes as Thibodeau altered his rotation. Rose and Luol Deng exited in the first quarter, a rarity, while Keith Bogans played the entire quarter.

A 15-0, third-quarter run by the Nets pushed Thibodeau to play Deng and Rose the entire quarter, and Rose responded with 10 of his 15 points. But with the Nets then taking an eight-point fourth-quarter lead, Thibodeau pulled Rose and Deng for the final eight minutes and eight seconds, letting a bench that has responded all year sink or swim.

It swam.

Noah, who posted his first double-double since March 28, had already exited for the final 17:29 to ice his left knee after bending it awkwardly.

“I’m fine,” Noah said. “I’m so sick of talking about injuries. I’m ready to compete.”

Carlos Boozer also sat for the final 14:40 as Thibodeau finished with the bench.

“To say seeding’s not important, that’s not true,” Thibodeau said.

The reserves played like it.