Game Preview: Bulls (7-9) Vs Heat (14-4)

Live from Chicago tonight at 8:30PM, the Bulls will take on the hated Miami Heat. The Heat may be without the Birdman (personal reasons/getting tatted up) and  Dwyane Wade, who will be icing his knees for the next 4 days and tending to the sale of his River West condo. Still, the Heat have the best player on earth in LeBron James as well as a rejuvenated Michael Beasley and future Hall of Famer Ray Allen.

As a quick side note: watch this video on Nikola Mirtoic.  You won't be disappointed.

It's quite popular for Chicagoans to hate on LeBron James or try to position him against Michael Jordan. LeBron is one of my favorite players, but more importantly, it doesn't matter that he's not as good as Michael Jordan. Jordan hates the Bulls organization, and his relative skill set has nothing to do with tonight's game.

What's relevant for tonight is that LeBron is SHOOTING 59.5% from the FIELD. He also happens to be connecting on 47.4% of three pointers, on his way to averaging 26 points per game. Wow. So, LeBron doesn't miss. We can only hope that he actually wears his new shoes, which will cause his feet to ache.

Luckily, Luol Deng is the best LeBron stopper in the league at this point. Without Dwyane Wade, expect the Bulls to clog the paint and force LeBron to become primarily a passer tonight. Unfortunately, we all know LeBron's an elite passer. Crap.

The Bulls Will Make Miami Earn EVERY POINT

I was at the Bulls-Heat game last season where the Bulls ruined Miami's huge winning streak. This is one of those things that doesn't show up on paper, but the Bulls play the Heat extremely well. I think Taj Gibson will absolutely abuse whoever Miami tries to throw at him in the post, and the Bulls might be able to pair him with Carlos Boozer against the undersized Heat front court.

The Bulls lack of energy on defense this year does scare me quite a bit, especially because the Bulls haven't closed out on three point shooters. And the Heat have a lot of capable three point shooters (Ray Allen, James Jones, Shane Battier, Mario Chalmers, Norris Cole, Beasley sort of). Still, expect the Heat to EARN every damn basket.

Miami is a defensive juggernaut itself, and the stalling Bulls offense could struggle mightily. I'm already scared about every minute Marquis Teague has to play with Mike James out due to injury. Look for the Heat to go on huge runs whenever Kirk Hinrich is out.

It should be a great game tonight. We know Miami is the superior team at this point, though I'm not sure that's the case with Derrick Rose healthy. Regardless, the Bulls will give the Heat everything they can handle on both ends of the ball. Taj and Boozer are the keys to tonight's game.

Without Wade, the Heat lose a scoring punch, but I think they pull out this game.

Final Score: Heat 98 Bulls 93

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