Chicago Bulls need the regular season magic to revive their threat – NBA Special Report - Part 2
Last but not the least, the Bulls who had proven that they were one of the best defensive team of the NBA, holding off the offensive powerhouses like Miami Heat, New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics on a consistent basis, have
left too much to be desired in their past two games. The Bulls were the best defenders of the three-pointer, but against the Pacers they failed to contest the ball aggressively outside the arc. To add to their woes, the team from the Windy City is not setting
up tough screens to hold off the Pacers. The result is that the Pacers have getting wide open look and they are making it count.
The only thing that is keeping the Bulls going at the moment has been Derrick Rose. The third year point guard, who is the downright favourite to grab the Most Valuable Player (MVP) this season, has been the only constant in Chicago’s
first real title surge since 1998. Rose erupted late in the first game of the series and finished with a game high 39 point to salvage a win in the final two minutes of the game. His efforts did not finish there though and in second game he again had to launch
a second half assault on the Pacers to salvage a six point win for Bulls.
Although the Pacers comprise of brilliant starters and excellent shooters, but the fact remains that they were chosen for the post season by default and the Bulls are a lot better side in comparison to them. Against a team that
ended the regular season with a losing record, the Bulls should be winning these games by 20 or odd points rather than barely making out of it. The Bulls are certainly not playing as a 62-wins team with a home benefit.
The major reason of worry is that the Bulls can play bad against the Pacers and win, but they cannot do that in the second-round of the playoffs when they will in all probabilities play against the gigantic Miami Heat and its All-Star
trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. James is the best player in the NBA, who loves to pounce on opposition weaknesses, Wade is by far the most athletic and effective shooting guard in the league and Bosh can single handily beat teams on the glass.
In the regular season the Bulls have a better supporting cast around Derrick Rose than the Heat had with James, but this time James, Wade and Bosh trump has a definite edge over the Rose and Boozer’s poor performance.
The fact that Heat failed to topple the Bulls in the regular season make them all the more dangerous as they will be eyeing a humiliation. Whatever, the actual scenario on the court may be when the duel arrive one thing is for
sure the men from the South Beach won’t certainly allow Rose as much room to manoeuvre as he is getting now.
It is therefore adamant that besides Rose the rest of the roster also raises its game, otherwise it’ll be something like the Orlando Magic saw against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 when the Magic lost despite of the mega night from
Dwight Howard. The Bulls biggest competition is going to be with the Heat in the second-round so in order to pass the juggernaut the Bulls require to revive their regular season game in which they played like champions.
Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in the article are the writer’s own personal views and has nothing to do with bettor.com’s editorial policy.
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