Brain over brawn; Strategy for Chicago Bulls to turn around the Eastern Conference Finals - Part 2
Link for Part-1:
http://www.senore.com/Brain-over-brawn-Strategy-for-Chicago-Bulls-to-turn-around-the-Eastern-Conference-Finals-Part-1-a71217
Keep Boozer firing and trust him down the stretch:
Carlos Boozer has to come up big. Miami have three guys who are splendid scoring machines. The Bulls only have one, but they do have a sleeping giant in Boozer. Carlos Boozer has question marks over his defensive acumen, but he is a proven scorer. If you are looking for an example, go no far than the game-3.
At this juncture of the series when the Bulls are on the brink, they need to get Boozer going, force him to take the ball and he will give you over 20 points. Chicago seem to have realized this and it paid dividends in the last two games, when the difference between the two sides came down to shooting in the clutch period.
With Boozer on song, Miami have quite a headache and have to split their defence between him and Rose.
Also, Boozer or maybe Luol Deng, have to be trusted in the crunch moments of the game. I know that your best player has to have the ball when the game is on the line and Rose is by far Chicago’s best player, but, in this case this tactic has a downside. The Bulls have become predictable and Miami swarm Rose during the final stretch. Even if he gets through the horde of Heat players, Rose’s shooting prowess seems to have deserted him. Giving the ball to Boozer or Deng could spring a surprise and catch Miami off guard.
Given the desperate position that the Bulls find themselves in, it’s worth a shot.
Get the bench going:
On the face of it both benches haven’t been too influential in the series, especially when compared to the Western Conference Finals, where almost every game a player comes off the bench to score around 20. However, this is a series of much finer margins and a deep analysis of the events transpired so far reveals that the reserves have been monumental in the crucial parts of the games.
The solitary win for the Bulls came in game-1 when some nasty dunks from Taj Gibson, including a facial for Dwyane Wade, charged them up and gave them the momentum to turn over the Heat. Since then however, Chicago’s bench has failed to provide meaningful contribution.
On the other hand, Miami had an inspirational performance from Udonis Haslem, who spurred them to a win in the second game. While most recently Mike Miller came off the bench to hit some big shots on the way to their overtime win in game-4.
In such a close series as this, the Bulls need anything and everything they can get from their bench.
Derail Chris Bosh:
Chris Bosh has rebuilt his stuttering reputation in this series. He arrived in Miami as the lesser star of the Big Three, and has been lurking in the shadow of James and Wade throughout the season. His performances in the post season fell further as the dynamic duo of LeBron and Dwyane took centre stage. In the conference semi-finals against the Boston Celtics, Bosh was effectively reduced to a lowly sidekick to the headline grabbing two-some.
However, Bosh has found new life against the Bulls. He averaged a poor 12.8 points per game against the Celtics and is now operating at almost double that with 24 points a game. He already has had two 30 game performances as well. All of Chicago’s good work in controlling Dwyane Wade and LeBron James (he has broken the shackles recently though) is being wasted because of their inability to stop Chris Bosh.
Joakim Noah & Company hardly measure up to the legendary Kevin Garnett, but they are the front court of the best defence in the league. Allowing Bosh the kind of freedom he has is just not acceptable. Bosh needs to be shut down and fast. Bulls should take a leaf out of the Boston Celtics play book or adopt the “defending Dwight Howard” approach, i.e. hitting him, fouling him and hoping he gets frustrated enough to not play well.
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