The Bulls are Back. Back in the Eastern Conference Finals. A place they practically owned during the Jordan - Pippen years. It's been a long time coming. It took some luck, drafting Derrick Rose, and signing the free agents from Utah, plus the development of Luol Deng and Joakim Noah. A few years ago, the Bulls gave the Celtics all they could handle in a first round series. Now, it's a date with the vaunted Miami Heat with Lebron James, DWade, and Chris Bosh.
James and Wade are two of the top players in the NBA. And, the free-agent signings of the trio last summer shook the NBA world and practically re-configured a team overnight. No one thought the Chicago Bulls would be playing the Heat for the right to earn an NBA title. But the Bulls had a great year and took home the individual post-season honors. Rose got the MVP award, new coach Tom Thibadou worked wonders with this team and rightly won Coach of the year. And, Gar Forman earned Executive of the Year tied with Pal Riley of the Heat.
It's a harmonic convergence and the Bulls hope the good vibes continue into the Third Round of the playoffs. Chicago is the underdog in this Series. Even though Chicago beat Miami the three times they met in the regular season.
For the Bulls to win this series, they will have to emhasize team play versus the talent of the Heat. You can't stop James or Wade on most nights. What you can do is make it hard for them to play off each other and to shut down lanes for others to join in. The Bulls will have to play great team defense. Their best of the season. That could get them past Miami and into the Finals.
