Chicago Bulls Thread

[Andrew]

A bit scrappy at times but nevertheless I'd say a great win over the Magic, especially after they blew the lead against the Hawks and the Magic were coming off a game in which they got hot and overcame a big deficit. Tough night for Noah with at least a couple of those calls being a bit ticky tack after Howard's technical, but Asik really stepped up. The skills aren't all there yet, but the effort certainly is. Big shots by Korver in the final minutes to interrupt Orlando runs. Here's hoping the Heat don't pull out of their tailspin before the next one.

[Dan's Brain]

Omer Asik has made me forget that aaron gray ever existed. And I loved Aaron gray when he was with the bulls. The kid is just effort and heart personified. Big fan. Almost enough to go and buy an Asik jersey. He's going up against the league's top players and he is just undaunted by that.

Also positive, with the win and the Miami Boshes getting blown out, the bulls now jump into outright 2nd in the east. I'm of the school of thought that Boston significantly weakened themselves with the perkins trade, so I really think that the number 1 seed isn't the pipe dream that it was at the beginning of the season or even a few weeks ago.

[air gordon]

he's definitely surpassed expectations! he's got some competitive drive and doesn't have that euro softness. kudos to him and to Paxson for finding this guy

yeh it's pretty crazy that the Bulls are in the running for that #1 seed. count me in as a believer.

almost like a do or die game for miami. it's been a bad 5 game stretch for them. a win by the bulls should break their spirit

[Andrew]

Also positive, with the win and the Miami Boshes getting blown out, the bulls now jump into outright 2nd in the east.

Correct, they're currently ahead by percentage points (and have the tiebreaker on top of that). Obviously they've got an opportunity to gain a firmer grasp on the second seed in the next one, here's hoping Miami doesn't choose that game to get angry and snap out of their funk.

[George7]

Hopefully a win today against the Heat. I'm glad this game is being played early enough so I can watch it!
As for this year's expectations.Well first seed for sure is not that big of a dream!If the team keeps playing solid like they did so far,they are going to have great chances of achieving this!!

[puttincomputers]

Bulls beat Heat again! WOW! Nice comeback.

[George7]

We won!!!!What a finish for the Bulls!!!!
Thanks to a fantastic play from Noah and Deng on the last 15 seconds on offense and a great defensive effort we took a really hard win and the season series sweep over the Heat!

[Andrew]

Alone in second place, 2.5 games behind the Celtics. I'm not quite as optimistic about the Celtics faltering and relinquishing that top seed as some of you guys are but at the same time, I'm not about to rule it out. Looking ahead their schedule isn't too bad, six road games and seven home games; all very winnable though I can see them dropping the second of a back-to-back on the road and maybe a home game or two.

[Dan's Brain]

It was probably the least convincing win of The Sweep, but of course, it doesnt matter how you get them.

I think where Boston is concerned, they're a Garnett injury away from a serious losing streak, which isn't completely out of the question given his history. Boston's greatest strength of the last few years has been their defence, and they lost a big chunk of that when they traded Perkins. Without Garnett, all of a sudden, they're relying on Nenad Krstic, Jeff Green and Big Baby Davis. Teams like Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago, the Bucks (!) and especially the Lakers would have an absolute field day with them.

The injury hypothetical is true for pretty much any team in the league. But there isn't another (somewhat) injury prone player, whose injury would change the make-up of a conference as completely as a Kevin Garnett injury would right now.

You take Bynum off the Lakers, they have the depth to mask it, and know how to play without him anyway.
You take Wade off the Heat, well, they're already crying in the locker room and he isnt injured, so...
You take Noah or Boozer off the Bulls.... well, they already tried that, and they still played winning basketball.

[benji]

Do you even want the top seed? Despite HCA?

Which path do you want I think matters more:
Celtics-Heat
Magic-Heat
Celtics-Magic

Personally, I think a path that avoids the Magic is a better path for the Bulls to the Finals. The Magic's true quality is being obscured by their lower W-L record which we can chalk a shitload up to overhauling half the rotation 22 games into the season. Despite this, they're right there with the other three in pythag even though they're still dysfunctional as fuck. They should be a lot better on offense than they are I would think. Especially once they beat up on the Hawks again.

But mostly, Orlando continues to have the straight matchup advantage in the East. The Celtics-Heat-Bulls all play into each others hands in multiple ways, Orlando separates itself mostly because of Dwight. It's not that they're better or harder but that they're different.

Either way. Arms race in the East has been great. We got denied the Magic-Cavaliers battle last year (haven't seen two teams purposely construct themselves to counter each other and only each other like that in a long time) because they forgot about Boston. This year we'll hopefully get three battles to the death thanks to the Bulls stepping up instead of the Hawks crap we got last year.

[air gordon]

It was probably the least convincing win of The Sweep, but of course, it doesnt matter how you get them.

I think where Boston is concerned, they're a Garnett injury away from a serious losing streak, which isn't completely out of the question given his history

Garnett's injury is the key to the bulls having a chance at #1 seed. Rivers will concede the #1 spot and sit KG down the stretch in order to have him ready for the playoffs. otherwise the bulls have an outside shot

Do you even want the top seed? Despite HCA?

Which path do you want I think matters more:
Celtics-Heat
Magic-Heat
Celtics-Magic

i think for a young team like the Bulls, homecourt is huge. i'm undecided on which "path". I'm more worried about avoiding NYK in the 1st round. The Bulls can't match up with Amare. they can't trap or rotate on him because he's just too mobile/athletic. you can't throw The Turkish Delight on him like you can Howard. there's something about that Knicks team that worries me. the bulls are tops in 3pt defense but for some reason NYK torched them this year

[puttincomputers]

I would love to see the Bulls face a Knicks team that just beat the Heat, who took them to 7 games in the conference semifinals!

Seeds would need to be
1 Bulls vs 8 Pacers: Bulls win over -.500 Pacers

4 Hawks vs 5 Magic: Hawks pull this one out due to Howard and is techs.

3 Celtics vs 6 Knicks: Knicks win in 5 due to injury prone Celtics who limp into playoffs

2 Heat vs 7 76ers: Heat win in 7 games. Meeks surprises everyone but cannot lift his team in final seconds of 7th game in 2OT

1 Bulls vs 5 Hawks: Bulls beat Hawks in 6 games

2 Heat vs 6 Knicks: Knicks beat the unraveling Heat in 7 games and rekindle the rivalry of the late 90s and early 2000s

1 Bulls vs 6 Knicks: goes to 6 or 7 games. Landry eats Bulls D for lunch, But Rose and Noah are the difference makers.

[rise]

No way the Knicks beat the Celtics even if they're slightly beaten up. Also Miami would eat Philly for breakfast in four to five games, and Iggy would be the main force - not Meeks.

[benji]

I'm more worried about avoiding NYK in the 1st round.

You're right, I forgot about that dynamic. I'll pretend that I was assuming the Knicks will beat Atlanta to the 5th seed.

There is something to getting the Knicks in the First Round over the Second Round. That's 4-7 more games they get to play together.

As an aside. Which path, including the first round, would you want? Least want? I'd say Knicks-Magic-Heat is the roughest for the Bulls. Pacers-Celtics-Heat probably the best.

Andrew? Dan's Brain? Others?

[Andrew]

I'm with AG on the importance of home court for the Bulls, even though they're above .500 on the road for the first time since 1998 (if I recall correctly). As for the path, should they stay in second place and the rest of the East remain as it is today, Sixers-Heat-Celtics is alright though I don't rate their chances that well against the Celtics without homecourt. If they got the top seed, Pacers-Magic-Heat might the best path to hope for given the current standings; Pacers-Heat-Celtics would be much better. Homecourt might help topple the Magic in the second round but that's not a good matchup for the Bulls if it happens.

So yeah...toughest, I'd say that'd be Knicks-Magic-Celtics. I guess I'd have to agree with Pacers-Celtics-Heat or Pacers-Heat-Celtics, though that's still tough and I don't know about making it to the ECF without homecourt.

[George7]

I agree that home court is a really important factor for this Bulls team.In fact I believe it will be a really important thing to have all opponents with home court advantage,as in fact the crowd helps a lot teams like this season's Bulls,teams that are young,motivated and show passion rather than experience in the games. Especially in the playoffs,were teams' experience counts really much(like Spurs,Celtics and even Lakers),Bulls will need that push from the crowd.

As for the possible paths. The toughest is clearly the Knicks-Magic-Celtics path.If this occurs I'm really concerned if the Bulls make it to the second round,and if they do,it will surely be tough(judging from the recent Bulls-Knicks games and the great advantage Knicks will have on the 4 spot,despite Booze's quality)

As for the most preferred,i would say Pacers in the first round,and then all other match-ups are tough.I would like Atlanta to eliminate Orlando(though highly unlikely),so a Pacers-Hawks-Heat or Celtics path would occur,but other than that it would be OK to have the current match-ups. I'm sure Philadelphia will be beaten in 5-6 games one way or the other,and then is Heat or Knicks who,provided HCA will do its job, can be beaten.As for the ECF i won't mind the team.If Bulls go that far I will be happy.

Pacers-Magic(Atlanta)-Celtics would be a nice path for me.I believe Bulls can beat Magic and Atlanta with Home court in every occasion.

[NovU]

There seems to be a thing about Knicks that is scaring everybody right now. So it's understandable how you guys would like to avoid Knicks in the first round. Same here for the Heat.

Anyways, Boston still remains to be the team to beat, not the Heat, Bulls nor Magic. Whoever meets the Celtics in the second round will need much luck. That's for sure.

[George7]

That's why Boston is the best possible ECF match-up for every one.They're really tough and experienced,so it is preferred to meet them in the Finals rather than ending your post-season in the first or second round !

[NovU]

But don't count the Heat out. I think the Heat provides more match up problems for the Bulls than the Magic. Of course, the Celtics are nightmare to everybody.

[Dan's Brain]

These East Standings would probably be ideal for the Bulls.

1. Boston
2. Chicago
3. Miami
4. Orlando
5. Atlanta
6. New York
7. Philly
8. Indiana

(aka, exactly the way the conference is sitting at the moment.)

The 1 or 2 seed probably nets them a sweep in the first round. Against Indiana, they would likely blow them out in the first 2 games at the United Centre, then take the foot off the gas for the next two at Conseco, but still come away with 2 close-ish wins. And Philly would be a tighter series, but not a serious challenge.

Then Miami, you would have to think the Bulls would be favourites here. I think New York can push Miami to 6 or 7 games, but the Heat would ultimately have the firepower to get past them. The LeBron-Carmelo marquee matchup would be a pretty major distraction, as would the return of playoff basketball to the garden. If the Bulls are coming off a likely sweep, and the Heat only have a day or 2 turnaround, then the first couple of games could be brutal for Miami. The Heat probably can't win at the United Centre, and the Bulls would possibly find it difficult to win in Miami, but the homecourt advantage would be the absolute key to this series.

Boston: This is probably for the title, as I don't really believe that anyone in the West can win this year. It was only 2 years ago, that the 7th seeded Bulls pushed the Celtics to 7 games in one of the best first-round series in recent history. This Bulls team is streets ahead of that one, and the Celtics are arguably worse. But you can never underestimate the heart of a Tomjanovich, so the Celtics would likely not let this one go without a fight. The Garnett-Noah duel would just be epically, epically great, and would likely result in almost fights in every game of the series. Last time around, Rondo staked his claim as a legit star. That was the series that really put him on the map. But with the way Derrick Rose has improved across the board since then, you'd think that Rajon would have to improve on that impossibly great series. If he averages a 20-10-20 triple-double, the Celtics win. But it's here that the Celtics would miss Perkins the most. Noah was the Bulls' best player in the last Celtics series, and with no Kendrick Perkins to stop him, Noah could go absolutely nuts. There's no one other than Garnett who can stop the ball in the post. He'd have to carry an impossible load, and would likely see himself in foul trouble fairly regularly.

The Finals: Whoever. Like I said, I think whoever wins out of the Bulls and Boston wins the title. The Bulls can win in L.A., they very nearly did win in San Antonio, and Dallas isn't going to the Finals.

That's probably the ideal run.

Variables: The Celtics/Magic series. I think the Celtics can defend Orlando. It won't be Howard who needs to win the series for the Magic. They'll need Arenas, Nelson, J-Rich and Turkoglu to be on fire for that series.

[Andrew]

Rose's jumper was a little shaky against the Hawks but he did a great job getting to the line, fine game from Deng despite his calf injury. Loved the defensive effort in the second half, solid contributions all around and even a Scalabrine sighting! Nice win, tenth straight in the United Center.

[Dan's Brain]

Also, the Bulls have now beaten every team at least once this year. Good stuff.

[Andrew]

18 point win over the Jazz to accompany the celebrations of the 20th anniversary of the first championship (anyone else feeling old thinking about that?), including a franchise record 18 three pointers made.

[Dan's Brain]

(anyone else feeling old thinking about that?)

Very.

Hopefully, there'll be a new anniversary to celebrate next June.

[Andrew]

Just so we can enjoy it again:

phpBB [video]

And the halftime celebration:

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

Chills.