MVP (Most Valuable Player): In a game where LeBron James (6-17 field goals) didn’t shoot great and Dwyane Wade (ten points) disappeared for stretches, Chris Bosh picked up the slack. He had an enormous double-double with 20 points, 19 rebounds and added two blocks and four assists for good measure.
LVP (Least Valuable Player): Carlos Boozer finally showed up and got himself out of the LVP spot. But it was quickly overtaken by Nazr Mohammed. And I mean quickly. Nazr got himself tossed after playing just 2:31 in Game 3. He committed an odd foul on LeBron at mid-court, and then when LeBron was about to get a technical, Nazr decided it would be best to push James down. Nazr got tossed and it did the Bulls no good.
X factor: Going into the series, the Bulls’ biggest worries were Bosh, James and Wade. Well, add Norris Cole to that list because he hasn’t missed from three yet. Cole is averaging 14.3 points per game and is shooting 80 percent from the field. When you’re over-compensating for LeBron James, someone is going to be open and it shouldn’t be Ray Allen. But if Cole keeps knocking down shots, the Bulls’ will have to make an adjustment.
X factor 2: The Bulls held Miami to 52.4 percent at the rim, which is 7.5 percent worse than the league average (and the Heat have a guy named LeBron James). That is a huge win for the Bulls and the focus of their defense. However, Miami hit 50 percent (13-26) from midrange, nearly 10 percent better than the league average. The Bulls executed their defensive scheme, but Miami, led by Bosh, was hitting the shots they were given. If a team is connecting at that rate from midrange, it’s going to be tough to beat them. When that team is the Miami Heat, it’s even tougher.
That was … better: Heading into the fourth quarter, the game was tied. But Chicago got outscored by ten in the final frame, which has to do, at least partly, with rest. Following Game 2’s blowout loss, the Bulls responded well and even though they didn’t get it done, they stuck right with the defending champs. If Miami hadn’t been hitting so well from midrange, the Bulls could be the ones with a 2-1 series lead.
Hey, nice Boozer mention! Boozer is awful. He is the starting power forward on one of the best defenses in the league, and his defense is therefore, we can all agree, awful. He plays for one of the best coaches in the league who stubbornly refuses to bench him, and this amazingly good coach is obviously incompetent in this regard. Despite being paid less then Chris Bosh, and being shorter and less athletic, he’s not as good as the Boshtrich, and actually has a really poor matchup against him. It’s an outrage! And Boozer’s good rebounding, above-average shooting, and effective team play — wtf? If Boozer were only Udonis Haslem, David West, David Lee/Harrison Barnes, Boris Diaw, Serge Ibaka, Zach Randolph, or whoever starts at PF for the Knicks, the Bulls would be way better. I blame Boozer for all the Bulls losses, and damn him with faint praise when he plays well.
In response to the Bulls could have been 2-1. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. That’s all!
i dont blame booz, every time he trys to back down anybody its an offensive foul. he plays defense when he’s invovled on offfense. and its just ugly whe they dont get him the ball.
as much control as thibs has, he should be blamed as well. cant be all Thibs when they win, and all Bulls when they dont.
front office quit on the season , so rose quit on the front office, not the team ! big difference.
didnt help that they threw him under the bus either, medically cleared and all.
oh yeah that UC crowd is pretty awful. madhouse on madison ? more like nursing home. its no suprise the bulls had a bad home record.
aiso want to say how impressive it is what the bulls are doing.
to wn the brooklyn series and to be this competative against the miami friggin heat……….wow.
and it burns because Nazr has been playing well. Also, I wouldn’t mind a Lebron or Wade injury to even the score a bit, I dont want any player to get hurt by an out-of-game incident. Nazr could have hurt Lebron. Nazr’s play was dirty. Instead of us talking about how lebron throw Nazr to the ground, we’re not only talking about Nazr’s stupidity.
The Nazr/LeBron incident aside, this series is not being called evenly, and that’s making an already uneven match-up even more uneven. This isn’t NBA conspiracy theory, and in any case I’m sure the powers that be would prefer that this series get stretched out, rather than shortened (and unless Lu or Kirk can get well quick, this isn’t likely to be a long one).
Thibs clearly is miffed over the calls, judging by his comments and no-comments at last night’s press conference. Then again, he may be trying to work the refs for the next game or trying to motivate his team.
Also, the comments above re Boozer are very silly — he’s been a key force all season, one of the best PFs in the game. We need him to contribute now, like he did all year and in the Brooklyn series.
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cmon da haslem dunk on rose was dnecet but its not like rose was right in front of him wen he did it. he on the side. now wade on there other hand is an all star and finals mvp. the reason that was special was because it came from a no name guy like taj. thats y bulls fans showed so much praise for that one. but hey heat beat the bulls 3 straight and even as a bulls fan i blame the bulls. they shot themselves in the foot
I guess finding useful, reliable information on the internet isn’t hopeless after all.