Chicago Bulls host slumping Miami Heat in battle of bragging rights in the East – NBA Preview
The Chicago Bulls host the Miami Heat on Thursday night at the United Center in what many are calling the most anticipated match of the post All-Star break season. They are the top two teams of the Eastern Conference
and may very well see each other in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.
Going into the night, the Bulls may be missing MVP Derrick Rose, who twisted his ankle in Sunday night’s game against the New York Knicks and did not play in Tuesday’s night win over the Knicks at home. Rose
has missed 13 of the Bulls last 14 games and is a game time decision for the clash against Miami.
But such has been the charge, Tom Thibodeau’s team has presented this season that the Bulls have been doing a good job without their leader, going 16-7 in the games that Rose has missed this season.
In Tuesday night’s win against New York in which Rose did not play, Richard ‘Rip’ Hamilton took the offense to the Knicks, scoring 20 points in 20 minutes, with 18 coming in the third quarter alone, and leading
his team to victory. Performances like these have been common in the Chicago team in the absence of Rose, helping them maintain the best record in the league.
However, it is difficult to replace Rose’s average of 23 points per game, especially against a team like Miami.
This is a game that will put to rest a lot of discussion and debates going on in the league at the moment. Heat have the best home record in the league but Chicago have the best away record in the league. Chicago
are also very tough to defeat at home. They are 23-6 at present in home games. The Heat, who play in Chicago Thursday night, are 16-12 in road games this season, a stark difference when compared with their home record and they seem to choke under pressure
in away games.
Head to head, Miami have the advantage in points per game and Bulls have more assists on average. Their shooting is almost the same, although Miami has a slightly better free throw record than the Bulls.
Defense however belongs to the Bulls and Bulls alone. They have the best defense in the league while Miami are at 20th. They average 46.35 rebounds at home, while Miami averages 40.16 in away games.
Chicago’s block percentage is also higher and given the fact that Miami’s weaknesses on the glass have been brutally exposed in the last few game, holding Chicago on the paint will be difficult for them.
The two teams have faced each other twice this season. Miami won the home game on 29th January 97-93, while Chicago defeated Miami without Rose at home 106-102, on March 14th.
In the 29th January Miami win, the Heat shot 3-8 from the 3 point range while the Bulls were 3 of 11. Miami also had 40 free throw attempts, 12 more than Chicago. But the important statistic is that
Miami had 48 rebounds, one more than Chicago, blocked the same number of shots, and had 19 assists compared to 14 for the Bulls.
Bulls had 11 steals, 5 more than Miami. Both teams were quite evenly matched but the fact that Miami matched Chicago’s defense made the difference. LeBron James scored 35 points and Chris Bosh added 24 points
and 12 rebounds. Derrick Rose had 34 for the Bulls but was 11 of 28 from the field and missed back to back free throws in the final minutes of the game.
In the 14th March victory for the Bulls at home, Derrick Rose did not play due to injury, but John Lucas III came off the bench to score a team high 24 points. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade both had
big nights scoring 35 and 36 respectively, but Chris Bosh was 3 of 15 for his 12 points and only grabbed 3 rebounds.
Chicago and Miami had almost the same percentages in field goal, 3 point shooting and free throw shooting. The Bulls managed 26 free throw attempts compared with 23 for Miami. So where was the difference? One
word – “Rebounds”.
Chicago seem to have a pattern. When they rebound well, they win. And on that night, they out-rebounded Miami 50 to 34. They had 8 blocked shots compared with 5 for Miami, even though they turned the ball over
15 times compared with 10 for Miami, the entire Bulls roster contributed in rebounds, giving them the edge over the Heat.
For Miami, LeBron is the key and needs to have a big night. But unless he gets support from Wade and Bosh, it will be difficult to beat the Bulls.
Bosh has had a good last three games, after slumping for a while in the middle of the season. He is averaging 18 points and 7.3 rebounds per game in his last three appearances. With the Heat being heavily undersized
going into the night, Chris will have to play out of his skin to ensure Miami compete on the paint. Wade is also averaging almost 20 points per game in his last 3, but his field goal percentage is 42% over those three games.
For the Bulls, Rose needs to play big, especially in the crunch. Besides him, Rip Hamilton needs to play like he did in Tuesday night’s win over the Knicks. And Joakim Noah needs to get those rebounds to gain
an advantage over Miami that can be the game changer. Kyle Korver and Taj Gibson could be the difference maker off the bench if they play well as the Bulls bench is much more reliable than the Miami bench.
Miami are 3-3 in their last six games and just lost to Boston at home, exposing their weaknesses for other teams to note. Boston also shrugged away the claim that Miami is almost unbeatable at home.
The Bulls also come into this game having lost 3 of their last six. Both teams are going through a rough patch as the playoffs approach. But against each other, they need to bring their A game.
It is a match-up of offense vs. defense. Bulls need to control the board if they need to win. For Miami, they have to match the Bulls defense if they want to win the game. Whoever wins this one will surely gain
the psychological advantage going into the playoffs. It will be a thriller till the last second.
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