CHICAGO — The Heat and the Bulls met in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Friday night, but the real story wasn’t about who was in uniform. It was again about who was in civvies. The undermanned, overmatched Bulls were without Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich, and when center Nazr Mohammed was ejected in the first half, team radio analyst Bill Wennington was next in line, presumably. No matter. [Read more…]
Warning to the rest of the NBA, especially the Miami Heat: If history can be used as a guide, Derrick Rose is going to be a much better shooter when/if he returns during the playoffs. Yes, that is a big “if.” Rose is expected to sit again tonight for Game 3. But when he returns, he should return a better shooter. That’s what happens when hard-working, coachable players have to rehab from leg or knee injuries. All they can do is practice their
Joakim Noah argues with referee Scott Foster. Aside from the overarching story being that the Miami Heat decisively won Game 2 against the Chicago Bulls to even the series 1 – 1, there has been plenty of media attention brought to the fourth quarter. Particularly, as things were spiraling out of control for the Bulls, when All-Star center Joakim Noah was ejected from the game. As he was being escorted from the court to the locker room, a
Moving past the obvious in Miami’s Game 2 triumph How do you push past the obvious insight about Miami’s all-around 115-78 beatdown of Chicago in Wednesday night’s Game 2? What can you say besides the Heat shooting 60 percent to 35.5 percent for the Bulls? Let’s break down the major things that changed on both sides that helped lead to such a different result in Miami’s favor: Miami’s Big Three was way more efficient in Game 2, perhaps with more determination and urgency in
Can we settle on this factoid after the first 4 days of the second round of the NBA Playoffs? The Golden State Warrors are now America’s team — unless, of course, you live in San Antonio and spend your days sticking needles into Joey Crawford voodoo dolls. Or you are Spike Lee. [Read more…]
The second round of the NBA playoffs have kicked off with a bang. And after what was a rather drama-less first round has become quite the opposite as we watch the final eight contend for the title. Most notably, the Chicago Bulls shocked the Miami Heat in Game 1 Monday night — on the road no less — and the Indiana Pacers came into Madison Square Garden and punked the Knicks Sunday afternoon. Did you know the Bulls are 9-8 against the Heat
Many will attribute Miami’s 93-86 Game 1 loss to Chicago on Monday to the seven days of rest the Heat had between its first and second round series. Can we blame the loss on Miami being “rusty,” “over-rested,” or given too much time between series, being punished for quickly finishing off the Milwaukee Bucks a week ago? “There’s no excuses,” said Miami Head Coach Erik Spoelstra, whose team had not played in more than a week. “We’re not making any excuses
The two best games of the playoffs thus far have clearly been Game 4 between the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls and Game 1 between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs, which had a number of similarities. Both games went multiple overtimes. Both games had plenty of big shots. Both games had role players becoming unlikely heroes. And unfortunately for the Nets and Warriors, both games had huge collapses late in regulation. [Read more…]