Miami Heat vs. Chicago Bulls – NBA Eastern Conference Finals 2011 Analysis (Part 1)
Against all odds, the Miami Heat dispatched their second-round rivals Boston Celtics 4-1 in the best of the seven game series and now are gearing up for the Eastern Conference Finals.
The series win against Boston was also significant in a way that LeBron James finally got rid of his 2008 and 2010 demons, when he lost against the Celtics. So keeping that in mind, the current triumph is arguably the most momentous
in James career so far.
In the meantime, the Most Valuable Player of this season Derrick Rose led the Chicago Bulls, as they eliminated the Atlanta Hawks 4-2 in the East semi-finals. Now, the Bulls will make their first trip to participate in the Conference
finals after 1998, which was Michael Jordan’s last season with Chicago.
Now the final matchup will take place between the two best teams of the East. Here is the analysis of the series.
Strong aspects of Chicago
The best defensive side of the National Basketball Association during the regular-season were the Bulls without a doubt and in the postseason run their defence remained almost as strong. Up till now in the playoffs Chicago gave
away, points with an average of just 89 in each game.
Besides good defence they were able to get some big plays from their role players like Kyle Korver, who chipped in with some solid minutes during the first-round series with Indiana Pacers and then Taj Gibson came to life against
the Hawks in the second-round and proved to be a firm wall in their defence. Gibson’s rebounding also helped Chicago during Carlos Boozer’s struggles.
The Bulls got a solid array of reserves as compared to Miami and this could play a vital role in deciding the series. The added advantage Chicago has with their reserves is that they play best at home and they are holding the home-court
advantage. During the regular-season the Bulls won 36 games and lost just five at home, so they are well aware how to win at home.
Rose, who was named the MVP of league most recently, is certainly a vigour that should be reckoned in this series as he is the Mr. Reliable of the Bulls their biggest key to victory. He can be a headache for Miami’s defence as
he has the thrust to successfully drive into the paint and make offensive opportunities for his team-mates.
Analyst are expecting that games in this series could be low scoring, so the best rebounding team of the league Bulls could come into play. Lastly, the Bulls prevailed in all three games against the Heat in the regular-season,
but it will not affect the current series enormously.
Frail aspects of Chicago
Even though the Bulls ejected the Pacers and Hawks with their madly inconsistent play from most of their players including Rose, who had some tremendous moments in the playoffs along with some woeful ones because this inconsistent
performance Chicago never looked like true champions in playoffs so far. The Pacers outplayed them in most of the first-round games and because of it the Bulls at times looked over dependent on Rose to pull the game in their favour.
At the same time, Boozer, who is considered as the Bulls $70 million man, is suffering from a toe injury and because of it his play is uninspiring thus far. This put more burden on the shoulders of Rose to do well in the initial
rounds and since Boozer is struggling the Bulls post-defence also looked deprived. However, Boozer did well in one game of the playoffs that was against the Hawks in game-5, where he thumped 23 points and clutched 10 rebounds. Boozer need to carry such an
effort against the Heat to advance the Bulls.
The Bulls offense also looked out of touch as there average score against the Hawks remained 92.6 and if the offense struggles continue against Miami then it should be their defence, who have to bear the shortcoming.
Besides, Rose no other player on the Bulls roster can create his own shots and this fact really hampers them. This means that if Miami can find a way to restrict Rose and the set shots of Korver and Keith Bogans, they can really
create problems for the Bulls’ offense.
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