Monday, May 16, 2011

Why the Bulls Will Beat the Heat

The Bulls will be in the NBA Finals for the first time since Micheal Jordan was around and Derrick Rose is not the reason why.  That is not to say Rose does not matter, as he is a mismatch and will probably score 23 plus every game, but he can have an off game and still get a win.  This will also be the first time I can ever remember one team having the TWO best players on the court and losing the series.  The problem for the Heat is of the next 10 best player on the court the Bulls have 9 of them.
The Heat are just asking for too much from Lebron and Wade, as any time they ever step off the court it is guaranteed the Bulls are going on a run.  They will need to play around 42 plus minutes every single night just to keep the games competitive.  The Bulls 'Bench Mob' 2.0 (the original Bench Mob was 2000 Kings) has always been one of the best in the league as every single player plays great D and unselfish offensively.  The one thing missing was the lack of scoring, but that works out fine as they are easily able to grab offensive boards and get 2nd chance opportunity and do not have to worry about the Heat bench putting up any points.  The Heat simply can't afford to put their 2nd unit against the Bulls 2nd unit.

Along with just being a much deeper team, the Bulls are deep in an area that the Heat struggle in.  The front court of Noah, Boozer, Gibson, and Asik can easily dominate Joel Anthony, Bosh, and whatever other big man Heat want to throw out there (Damper, Big Z, or Juwan Howard).  As seen in game one the Bulls out rebounded the Heat 45 to 33 and grabbed 19 offensive rebounds compared to the Heats 6.  There is no reason to believe this trend will not continue throughout the series (3 games in regular season Bulls out rebounded Heat 131-99 and had 33 offensive compared to Miami's 20).  Heat can't miss many shots and have to take high percentage ones throughout the series, as they are not going have any 2nd chance opportunity.  This directly leads to another area Chicago excels at.

Thibodeau defenses also have historically always worked on superstars iso players such as James, Wade, and Kobe.  They have all shot terrible %'s and have had a hard time in series vs. Thibs coached Celtics.  His teams have always been at great double teams, rotating to the open man, keeping players out of the paint, and forcing player to take jump shots instead of driving .  The Bulls are also putting immediate pressure on the ball when Lebron has it and are not letting him get a head of steam while trying to attack the basket, as he is almost impossible to stop when he is at that stage.  Having the right players helps as well, as Deng is probably one of the few players who can put pressure on Lebron without letting him drive by easily.  Nothing has or will come easily for the Wade and Lebron this series as they will get no easy baskets.

The two defensive weaknesses that the Bulls do have is Rose and Boozer.  Rose short coming are easily covered up as Heat have no PG who can score.  The times Rose did get matched up on Wade they immediately sent a double his way and got the ball out of Wades hands ASAP.  Boozer on the other hand is a match up Heat can take advantage of, as Bosh poured in 30 points in game one.  The good thing for the Bulls is they have one of the better defensive big men in the league sitting on their bench in Taj Gibson, and Tom Thibodeau has shown he has no problem giving him crucial minutes and letting Boozer sit on the bench.

For the Heat to pull this one out they will need some all time great playoff performances from their big two throughout the series.  I predict Chicago in 5.

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