Chicago Bulls vs. Miami Heat - NBA Preview
The two Eastern Conference finalists Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat will be at logger heads on Wednesday night here at United Center. They will confront each other for the 2nd time this season and the Bulls will be envisaging
their 18th win at home while Miami are eyeing their 14th win on road this season.
Bulls enjoy a leverage of 47-38 against the Heat in all time regular seasons and also have a 28-14 advantage on their turf against Miami. However Heat will be stepping inside the arena with a prior victory in their hand - they
edged Bulls 97-93 on January 29th at American Airlines Arena.
LeBron James was the driving force behind that victory as he tallied a game high 35 points to go with 11 boards and 5 assists while Chris Bosh poured in 24 and Dwayne Wade chipped in with 15. Heat led the game through most of
the first 3 quarters, but deep into the game, the Bulls bounced back and had a chance to take lead. They however failed in doing so as Derrick Rose missed a pair of freebie with only 28 seconds remaining in the game.
Rose had 34 points in the game and Richard Hamilton along with Joakim Noah shared 11 apiece.
Derrick was not pleased after missing the crucial freebies.
"This is so surreal right now knowing that I had a chance to win the game," said Rose, emotional at his locker afterward. "And this time it didn't work out."
He will have a chance to settle the scores on tonight but with “Big Three” Of Miami on song, this will be a difficult task.
Rose has been brilliant off late, especially when the pressure is on. He has averaged 22.8 points and 8.0 assists per game so far this season and will surely be the biggest threat for Heat. Carlos Boozer with a 15.6 points and
8.1 rebounds average will also have an important role, but most importantly they will have to figure a way to stop Heat in transition and to do that, Chicago will have to be more athletic than the Heat throughout the night. One slip up could mean a 2-0 deficit
in the season series.
The one thing that might help them is that the Heat will be coming after losing an overtime thriller against Orlando Magic and they will be fatigued.
James, who has scored 30 plus points in 16 games this season, struggled on the offense tonight, but more than made it up with his rebounds and assists. Up against the man who dethroned him from being MVP for the third time in
a row, King James will be vying to excel. Chris Bosh scored 23 against Orlando and if he gets going Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson will have their work cut out.
Last but not the least is Dwyane Wade, the man who has been carrying the Heat in crunch games recently. Chicago do not have a decent option top counter him on the wings and the load will most certainly fall on Rose. If the charismatic
point guard is able to hold Wade off, the Bulls just might be able to counter the Heat offense.
Having said that, in the face of a tight Miami defense, Rose will find it difficult to make trips down the lane, and will have to ensure that his jumpers find their target. If he succeeds in doing so consistently, the Bulls will
win.
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