Just Finish !!

After giving fans a chillingly bad vibe in the N.J. loss to end the regular season, the Bulls punished the Miami heat 4-0 to complete only the second opening round playoff sweep of defending champions in N.B.A. history. And they looked good doing it. A lot has been written about how this Bulls team resembles the early 90’s model in being built slowly while being allowed to grow. They are a hugely different from the Frankenstein model Miami sports: Shaq, ‘Zo, Payton, Williams, and sundry other parts assembled from afar. A healthy Dwayne Wade last year allowed Miami to win it all, but the collection of yesterdays stars and Dwayne Wade could not keep up with the Bulls in any facet of the game this year. This team has been allowed to mesh to-gether well, and the addition of Ben Wallace to the core has been a major plus this series.

It was good to see the Bulls respond to the season ending N.J. loss which dropped them from #2 to #5 in the important playoff seedings. Losing the opportunity to play two straight series against weak opposition to open the playoffs and instead pairing them first against the champs and then the #1 seeded Detroit Pistons could have crushed a teams psyche. But, these was no way even close that these guys were effected.

The Bulls are a talented, deep, young, defensive minded team that used all of these things to overwhelm the Heat. The truth was out the first quarter of game #3. Down 2 games to none, the Heat had to respond by coming out all championship style- but instead it was Luol ‘denging down shots, Wallace boxing out, and the Bulls hustling everywhere. To me, the Heats championship ran out unofficially early in the third quarter of this game when the Bulls survived a furious quarter and a half surge* and put the game away. Shaq had gotten some baskets with his inside immovable positioning, but the defense tightened up and frustrated the Heat, and Ben Gordon started to hit shots.

In Sundays game I just saw a beaten Miami side from the get go, despite the few scattered heroics of what was essentially the rear guard of the championship. Again, the Bulls were able do what they wished almost the whole game. The 4-0 series win was fairly indicitive of how both teams were paying.

Now Detroit. They also are coming off a 4-0 sweep, and seem to be a bigger problem for the Bulls then the somewhat injured and old Heat. However, I have the same good feeling about this team, and the 1st round only strenghtened it. This teams should be going to the finals, if they can get past the Pistons. And they will.



*=funny-I hesitated to use this word.