Chicago Bulls 93, Miami Heat 86--Bulls leads series 1-0 (!)
After improbably pulling off a Game Seven victory in Brooklyn Saturday night, the Bulls enter the Eastern Conference Semifinal round playing with house money. With Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng both out again, in addition to Derrick Rose's continued absence, expectations are not exactly what they were the last time these two teams squared off in the playoffs.
Nonetheless, the Bulls have played the Heat close, even without Derrick Rose, having split four regular season meetings this season. Of course, the playoffs are a different animal, especially with the Heat being well-rested after easily dispatching the Milwaukee Bucks in four, and the Bulls grinding their way through seven trying games against Brooklyn. With this in mind, an enveloping fog of unease pervaded upon the lead-up to Game One, and rightfully so; there are no moral victories in sports, but if the Bulls managed to keep the first game of this series close, then maybe the vague notion of a competitive series could become a reality.
The Bulls gained possession on the opening tip, but neither squad was able to get on the scoreboard in their respective opening trips on the offensive end, starting a combined 0-for-5 from the field. A nice move to the rim from Noah put the Bulls on the board first, however, at the 10:15 mark. Jimmy Butler extended the lead to 4-0 from the line after drawing a blocking call just outside of the restricted area.
Neither team was exceptionally sharp in the opening minutes, but given each team's opening round, this was perhaps not unexpected. The Heat continued to misfire from the field, starting the game 0-for-7 from the field as the Bulls built an early 8-2 lead.
Despite the auspicious start, Nate Robinson began this one 0-for-4 from the field with some questionable feeds to Chicago's big men; this would have to change if the Bulls were going to make this any sort of game. On the bright side, it was a quiet, low usage quarter for Lebron James, who was 1-for-2 from the field for two points well into the first frame. James seemed content to facilitate in the early stages, but Jimmy Butler was also doing his part in forcing that decision-making.
Norris Cole countered a quintessentially Nate spin move into a banked jumper with a buzzer-beating floater of his own, and the Bulls took a 21-15 lead into the second quarter.
With Michigan's football season having recently ended, it's pretty much going to be all basketball around here (Michigan and Bulls) unless something important and football-related occurs. On that note, there will probably be some "final word" type pieces to officially close the voluminous and complicated legacies of Michigan's senior class...yes, Denard. Obviously.
Chicago Bulls (17-13) @ Miami Heat (22-8)
The Opponent
Anywho, it's been a few games but here I am again. Since I last talked about the Bulls/wrote a preview piece for the Indiana game that was then cancelled, the Bulls picked up an ugly win against Washington, an ugly loss against Charlotte and what should've been a much more convincing looking win on the box score against Orlando.
The Bulls head to Miami tonight to take on the 22-8 Miami Heat, currently a game ahead of New York and first in the Eastern Conference. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season; during last year's shortened campaign, the Bulls went 2-2 against the Heat.
The Heat come in with a two game winning streak,both, strangely, overtime victories against Orlando and Dallas. So, maybe they'll be all tired out come tipoff tonight? Let's hope so.
In any case, despite the season that Carmelo Anthony is having and Kevin Durant being Kevin Durant, LeBron James still leads the league with a hilarious PER of 30.23. Speaking of LeBron, I read this post on The Basketball Jones and thought it to be mostly true:
It would appear that a little more than nine seasons into his
microscopically analyzed professional career, LeBron James has reached a
place few great professional athletes, especially in the NBA, ever
dream of reaching: Being boring. Kobe Bryant has managed to play twice
as long without EVER being boring for an entire month. Even in the few
drama-free moments of his pro hoops tenure, the lack of news was
newsworthy enough that people never went in ignorance of it. But without
a title to chase, a troublesome teammate or coach to battle, or a facet
of his game particularly thriving or lacking, there’s just no drama
left in LeBron. He’s so boring now that he can’t stop listening to Wiz Khalifa.
Pretty much. Perhaps I don't have my finger on the pulse of the NBA zeitgeist, but it would seem that, after winning that championship, the concept of LeBron James has been relieved of any sort of controversy. Now, he's just a guy averaging 26.5 ppg, 8.6 rpg and 7.1 apg. Indeed, LeBron is just quietly going about his business practically unnoticed, eviscerating defenses and probably dunking on your face.
Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are doing their things as well, averaging 20.6 and 18.0 ppg, respectively. Offseason addition Ray Allen provides the Heat with a fourth double digit averaging scorer (11.6 ppg) while continuing his ways as a frustratingly automatic 3-point shooter (46%).
The rest of the team also reads as a list of "dudes you already know." Shane Battier is still around filling the Bruce Bowen role (i.e. defense and threes); Battier is shooting a nice 42% from three. Even Rashard Lewis, who was sort of just an overpaid albatross in Orlando in the two years after their run to the NBA Finals, is hitting 47% from three, albeit in fewer minutes than anything he's averaged since right around Y2K. Udonis Haslem is not a high usage guy at all but does what he needs to do for an undersized Miami frontcourt.
Point guards Norris Cole and Mario Chalmers are spark plug sorts that can do some damage on nights when Wade or Bosh aren't on. I should stop talking personnel...this is Miami. You know who they are.
Points of Concern
Uh, need it be said? The Bulls had trouble with the Heat in the 2011 playoffs because they only had one star (Rose) to Miami's triumvirate. Well, Derrick Rose isn't walking through that door (but hey, Rip Hamilton is).
Playing on the road isn't so much a concern to me because of: a) Miami's moribund at best home crowd and b) the Bulls handled the Knicks at MSG not too long ago. What does worry me is the fact that the Heat can push the tempo with LeBron and Chalmers, and I don't think the Bulls have the athleticism to keep up. As the minutes continue to pile up for guys like Joakim Noah and Luol Deng, you can hear those hinges getting creakier and creakier.
Three-point D is also a worry, as LeBron, Battier, Lewis and Allen all shoot it very well. The Bulls are 6th in the league in 3-point percentage defense, if that is a statistic that means something to you.
Miscellaneous Stats
This is replacing the "What Needs To Happen" heading because I found that it often just reiterated what was said in the previous section. Anyway:
Points. The Heat are fourth in the league in points per game, averaging 103.6 per contest.
Rebounding. If the Bulls can close the massive talent gap somehow, it's by winning the battle on the board a la Game 1 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals against Miami. Given the Heat's lack of traditional frontcourt options, they're second to last in the league in rebounding. They're rebounding just 21.3% of their misses their season (to Chicago's 28.8%). The Bulls are no longer the truly elite rebounding lords that they once were, but they are still good enough to be a serious asset.
Useless Prediction Time
Even in victory, the Bulls have looked a little shaky of late. Unfortunately, it seems that the win in New York didn't really give them that much momentum at all, but maybe I'm being a little too demanding.
This feels odd to even think about writing, but Carlos Boozer will need to bring a performance similar to the season-high 31-point game he had against Orlando on Wednesday if the Bulls have any hope of keeping up. Last year's numbers are naturally not encouraging, as the Heat blocked more shots (obviously) and were +13.3 per 48 minutes as opposed to just +5.9 in last year's four matchups.
I don't know that there's really a matchup on the floor that the Bulls win outright. I like Noah on Bosh, but it's sort of hard to compare the two because their games are so different. This is where the Bulls' bench would have made up the difference in the past, but, alas.
Anyway, LeBron is just too good and the Heat have too much firepower for a Bulls team that seems to be on the verge of being compressed into little disk-like things by the intense gravity of Thibodeau's minute meting SOP.
Hello, Internet. I am Fouad Egbaria, a Michigan grad ('11) and recent graduate of the MSJ program at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. This is a blog that attempts to analyze the highs and lows of Michigan football and basketball; I'm just trying to capture the spirit of the thing. I will also write about general Big Ten news, as well as Chicago professional sports (from time to time).
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