Chicago Bulls rue the opportunity to make it 2-0 in the game-2 of the Eastern Conference Finals
The Chicago Bulls are not happy with their display in the game-2 loss against the Miami Heat. The game at the United Center ended 85 – 75 in favour of the Heat, allowing them to come back in the series. But, it wasn’t one sided as the score line suggests.
It is true that Chicago got out-rebounded by the Heat. Miami also shot better and were better down the stretch. The Bulls however, believe that it was their own shortcomings rather than Miami’s better play that led to the defeat.
First off, let’s get the obvious out of the way. Yes, LeBron James was huge in crunch time. He did grab the game by the scruff of the neck in the final period to secure a vital win for the Heat. It is also true that LeBron showed great strength of character in bouncing back from a poor performance in game-1, where he had only 15 points, to deliver a stellar showing in game-2. The same applies for Dwyane Wade, who answered his own critics, his son Zaire among them, with a solid 24 points and 9 rebounds.
There should be a mention of Udonis Haslem as well who returned from a toe injury to score 13 and made some important plays for Miami.
Having said that, for all the comeback performances and hustle points Miami had, the game was still extremely close. In fact, before LeBron went on his one man crusade, the teams were level at 73 – 73. Chicago were more than just hanging on, they were right into the eyes of the Heat with just under 5 minutes left to play.
"We let one go, but it's a tied series," Chicago small forward Luol Deng said. "It's not the end of the world. These things will happen. We need to bounce back."
They did let it go. Despite all their struggles, Chicago were very close to winning it. Let’s put in perspective how poor the Bulls were on the night. Chicago lost out on the boards 45 – 41, a stark contrast from their game-1 domination of 45 – 33. They were poorer on the second chance points, going from 31 in the first game to just 18 in the second. Add to that, the high number of transition buckets they let in and you have a pretty average performance.
However, that’s only half the story. The other half was the shooting, which was astoundingly poor. Chicago could do nothing right when it came to shooting the ball on the night. The United Center crowd watched in agony as the Bulls fluffed one shot after another. They were sub standard in all departments, shooting a low 34 percent from the field against 47 percent from Miami. They were shocking from beyond the arc as well, with just 3 made out of 20 attempted and couldn’t even get it going from the line, missing 10 of their 26 free throws.
Star man Derrick Rose wasn’t like the knight in shining armour as he proven to be so many times this season. He was one of the worst, shooting an abysmal 7-of-23 from the field. He missed from downtown, he missed mid range jumpers and he couldn’t even get many layups to fall.
Despite all this, Miami just edged ahead at the end. Their star players were back on song, but they didn’t win it on their own, they had help from the Bulls. This is why Deng said the Bulls let it go, not that Miami won it.
Chicago, distraught as they should be after the performance, know that Miami didn’t really hurt them. As such, they are confident they can turn it around after making some adjustments and executing better on the court. Their coach Tom Thibodeau said to this effect,
“We’re going to have to make corrections, learn from it, and do a whole lot better down there, Defensively, we have to do a lot better. We have to clean a lot of things up.”
Miami should be prepared for another fight, this time in the American Airlines Arena.
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