2011 Chicago Bulls Playoff Thread (5/26 7:30pm CST - TNT)

[SpongeWorthy]

No way, no how is Lebron quicker off the bounce than a young MJ. He's "freakier" cuz of his size/speed combination. But pure quickness off the bounce? No, not close.

[Banedon]

Luke (Westmont)

 

Aside from bench play, I believe that chicago's biggest advantage in this series is coaching. After being pounded like that, do you think Spolestra can make the necessary adjustments to beat the Bulls in this series?

 

Michael Wallace (4:13 PM)

 

I didn't get the sense from Spoelstra that this will be all about adjustments. I got the sense from today's practice that the major adjustment Miami needs to make is in the effort department.

 

Oh man, I hope Spoelstra tries the small lineup again.

[wolf stansson]

Athletically, Lebron runs circles around Jordan.

That's a strong statement. He's 2 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier. Speed, quickness and jumping are similar, Jordan more graceful and nimble. Ridiculously strong in his own right.

 

LeBron is faster and quicker than Jordan ever was. And Jordan didn't come in the NBA ridiculously strong like LBJ did.

Since there's no measurables on this, I'm just going to continue to disagree based on how they look relative to other players when you watch on film.

[bukie]

Luke (Westmont)

 

Aside from bench play, I believe that chicago's biggest advantage in this series is coaching. After being pounded like that, do you think Spolestra can make the necessary adjustments to beat the Bulls in this series?

 

Michael Wallace (4:13 PM)

 

I didn't get the sense from Spoelstra that this will be all about adjustments. I got the sense from today's practice that the major adjustment Miami needs to make is in the effort department.

 

Oh man, I hope Spoelstra tries the small lineup again.

The Heat have played 4 different lineups in 4 games against the Bulls and have been outrebounded in all of them. Anthony generally starts because he does one thing extremely well: help defense. On the flip side, he's a lousy post defender, rebounder, and offensive player. Their best hope at this point by keeping the same lineup is that James and Wade will try to create more FT opportunities and get the Bulls bigs in foul trouble (particularly Gibson, who is a bit prone to it).

[bcl412]

Luke (Westmont)

 

Aside from bench play, I believe that chicago's biggest advantage in this series is coaching. After being pounded like that, do you think Spolestra can make the necessary adjustments to beat the Bulls in this series?

 

Michael Wallace (4:13 PM)

 

I didn't get the sense from Spoelstra that this will be all about adjustments. I got the sense from today's practice that the major adjustment Miami needs to make is in the effort department.

 

Oh man, I hope Spoelstra tries the small lineup again.

 

If Spoelstra thinks effort was the Heat's only problem they aren't winning this series.

[UMFan83]

lebron is a clown, not a killer

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap/_/id/270531008/cleveland-cavaliers-vs-detroit-pistons

 

And I remember after that game thinking we were all in trouble because I expected to see that happen on the regular. And yet, this is really the only example I've seen cited for LeBron having a killer mentality. Maybe Game 5 against Boston could be added to that.

[DivineBovine]

Athletically, Lebron runs circles around Jordan.

That's a strong statement. He's 2 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier. Speed, quickness and jumping are similar, Jordan more graceful and nimble. Ridiculously strong in his own right.

 

LeBron is faster and quicker than Jordan ever was. And Jordan didn't come in the NBA ridiculously strong like LBJ did.

Since there's no measurables on this, I'm just going to continue to disagree based on how they look relative to other players when you watch on film.

 

 

I'd agree that LeBron is more physically gifted than MJ. It's not a landslide, but I'd say so.

 

LeBron has a lot of skills- namely his ballhandling and passing- but so much of his play is based on being bigger, stronger and faster than everyone else. He gets a lot of his rebounds, steals, blocks, and easy fast break baskets just because of his physical ability.

 

But in terms of comparing the players, there's no comparison. Jordan was a far more skilled player. And a lot has to do with killer instinct. And by killer instinct, I don't mean crying if you lose or beating your chest when you win. I mean the willingness to work harder than everyone else and not accept losing. Think about how MJ developed the unguardable turnaround fadaway in the post as his career went on. Or developing a 3 point shot. That's killer instinct. Not joining 2 other all-stars and throwing a championship party in the summer.

 

LeBron hasn't really improved his game in the past 3 years. That's what happens when you rely on overwhelming talent all your life.

[UMFan83]

Wilbon said an interesting thing in his chat:

 

There's probably an 85 percent chance this thing is tied 1-1 after Game 2. And if you're the Bulls, that's just fine...They're not naive enough to think this is going to be easy.

 

Is that true? I don't really think the Bulls should be satisfied with a 1-1 split at home. Not at all. When the euphoria of last night faded, I was quickly reminded that this game means a lot less if we go out and lose game 2. The goal is to protect home court, and if we lose Game 2, we lost home court and give the momentum to Miami. It's not that I don't think the bulls can win in Miami, but most people would agree that if the first 2 games of a series between closely talented teams is split, the road team has the edge. So while last night was awesome, we've only accomplished half of what we've set out to do in these 2 home games.

[Guest]

I like Wilbon, but he's way off on that one. If the Bulls don't hold at home, I don't think they end up winning the series. On the other hand, if they win this coming game, I don't see Miami winning 4 out of 5, either.

 

btw - I think Wilbon has a fatal flaw in his understanding of conditional probability, as well. :)

[bukie]

Since the first round went to a 7 game series nine years ago, the team with home court advantage has won 76% of the time.

 

After winning game 1, the team with home court advantage has won the series 87% of the time.

[Derwood]

I don't know why people insist that the Heat are locks to win this series, especially after last night. I mean, the Bulls didn't squeak one out, they [expletive] blew them out of the water. I'm not saying the Bulls will win 4 straight by 20+ points, but what did the "experts" see last night that keeps them so optimistic about the Heat?

[UMFan83]

Taj Gibson (Chicago)

 

 

The hometown boy, Wade now should be happy every kid in Chicago has a poster up with him in their rooms - you think he'll care that I'm dunking on him though?

 

Michael Wallace (3:34 PM)

 

 

Wade seems to be taking that dunk in stride. He mentioned that his son dunked on him during their nerf hoops game and yelled "Gibson" Kids will say the funniest things.

 

 

Hahaha DWade's son is awesome

[KingCubsFan]

I don't know why people insist that the Heat are locks to win this series, especially after last night. I mean, the Bulls didn't squeak one out, they [expletive] blew them out of the water. I'm not saying the Bulls will win 4 straight by 20+ points, but what did the "experts" see last night that keeps them so optimistic about the Heat?

Who is still saying that? Everything I've heard has been the opposite.

[UMFan83]

Game 1 was about the next phase of Rose's evolution, the development of his jump shot. He made only 16 3-point shots in each of his first two NBA seasons, then made 128 of them this year. Getting to the basket simply wasn't an option for him in Game 1. The Heat had their big men jump on him off screens while their guards went underneath and another help defender came over if necessary. As a result, only one of Rose's 10 baskets came in the lane. He made jumper after jumper, including three 3-pointers, with a stroke that looked smooth and confident from the outset.

 

Rose said this began in Atlanta, when he made a jumper in the third quarter of the closeout Game 6 and it felt like his rhythm was back. It carried into this series opener at the United Center."This is my building," Rose said.

Interesting. Who knows if this is "I have a 3 point shot now" Derrick Rose or "Why can't I be MVP?" Rose, but I think people who have watched Rose closely in his 3 seasons in the league knows that he's been a better shooter than he's shown the last month or two (at least mid range). He had a really good shot last night, and is starting to take that mid range shot again, after almost completely taking it out of his playbook for the last 2/3rds of the year.

 

Yes I realize he was only 10/22, but when you consider that he took some pretty bad shots in the 3rd quarter, and consider only 1 of his 10 FGs were in the lane, that's pretty good.

[Wilson A2000]

Getting tired of the line "the Bulls just try harder and that is why they won." I really don't think Miami has more talent than the Bulls. Outside of Rose, the Bulls don't have flashy talent, but they are plenty talented.

[Brian]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b315/bgentz/299946102.jpg

[rawaction]

I like Wilbon, but he's way off on that one. If the Bulls don't hold at home, I don't think they end up winning the series. On the other hand, if they win this coming game, I don't see Miami winning 4 out of 5, either.

 

 

Bulls have not lost more than 2 straight games all year. They have not lost consecutive games at home at all. They won't start either streak against a team that is not clearly better than them (those teams don't exist). So, even if the Heat take Game 2, it's still coming back to Chicago 2-2. And losing game 2 means that the Bulls won't lose Game 5 at home. And I'll take my chances in a Game 7 in Chicago if it comes down to that.

[BCVM22]

That's beautiful.

[bukie]

Since the first round went to a 7 game series nine years ago, the team with home court advantage has won 76% of the time.

 

After winning game 1, the team with home court advantage has won the series 87% of the time.

As to why game 1 was huge, teams that lose game 1 at home have won the series 47% of the time (and that includes twice last round!)

[gflore34]

The Bulls owned the boards again last night, over the series(season + playoffs) they've destroyed the Heat on the boards. They've also owned the bench matchup as well, no matter what the Heat do, these two factors probably aren't going to change. I think it boils down to the Bulls starting 5 hanging a little less to even with Wade, James and Bosh. If so, the rebounding and bench are going to push the Bulls ahead everytime.

[Guest]

Taj Gibson (Chicago)

 

 

The hometown boy, Wade now should be happy every kid in Chicago has a poster up with him in their rooms - you think he'll care that I'm dunking on him though?

 

Michael Wallace (3:34 PM)

 

 

Wade seems to be taking that dunk in stride. He mentioned that his son dunked on him during their nerf hoops game and yelled "Gibson" Kids will say the funniest things.

 

 

Hahaha DWade's son is awesome

 

 

Does anyone believe this actually happened? That was DWade going "HEY LOOK AT ME, I DON'T CARE THAT I GOT SPLOOGED ALL OVER BY TAJ GIBSON LAST NIGHT. REALLY! I SWEAR! I'M EVEN LAUGHING ABOUT IT!"

 

Pretty obvious he was getting defensive about it with his "I'll take my 90-1 dunk ratio" comment.

Edited May 17, 2011 by David

[Magnetic Curses]

lebron is a clown, not a killer

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap/_/id/270531008/cleveland-cavaliers-vs-detroit-pistons

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200706070SAS.html

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200706070SAS.html

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200706120CLE.html

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200706140CLE.html

[imb]

lebron is a clown, not a killer

 

http://espn.go.com/nba/recap/_/id/270531008/cleveland-cavaliers-vs-detroit-pistons

 

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200706070SAS.html

 

 

Jesus christ look how atrocious that cavs lineup is

[SpongeWorthy]

The (in)famous Damon Jones game where he accumulated a trillion while somehow playing 12 minutes.

[rawaction]

Athletically, Lebron runs circles around Jordan.

That's a strong statement. He's 2 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier. Speed, quickness and jumping are similar, Jordan more graceful and nimble. Ridiculously strong in his own right.

 

LeBron is faster and quicker than Jordan ever was. And Jordan didn't come in the NBA ridiculously strong like LBJ did.

Since there's no measurables on this, I'm just going to continue to disagree based on how they look relative to other players when you watch on film.

 

 

I'd agree that LeBron is more physically gifted than MJ. It's not a landslide, but I'd say so.

 

LeBron has a lot of skills- namely his ballhandling and passing- but so much of his play is based on being bigger, stronger and faster than everyone else. He gets a lot of his rebounds, steals, blocks, and easy fast break baskets just because of his physical ability.

 

But in terms of comparing the players, there's no comparison. Jordan was a far more skilled player. And a lot has to do with killer instinct. And by killer instinct, I don't mean crying if you lose or beating your chest when you win. I mean the willingness to work harder than everyone else and not accept losing. Think about how MJ developed the unguardable turnaround fadaway in the post as his career went on. Or developing a 3 point shot. That's killer instinct. Not joining 2 other all-stars and throwing a championship party in the summer.

 

LeBron hasn't really improved his game in the past 3 years. That's what happens when you rely on overwhelming talent all your life.

 

The fact that he says 2 inches taller and 20 lbs heavier and they are similar gives the edge to LeBron. Runs circles around was probably a bit much, but LeBron is better athletically than Jordan was. Kobe is too.

 

As for LeBron not improving his game, I think he's a better defender and shooter than he was 2 years ago. And when you're the best player in the league, any improvement is going to be looked at as marginal anyway.