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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The Heat are so beatable

Yeah, I said it. So beatable. I don't like focusing on other teams (especially one's we aren't playing), but let's face it, the Heat are the only team in the NBA that can beat us. And if they do, it's not because of Dywane Wade or Chris Bosh. It comes down to King James.

If you've been a long time reader, you know I'm one of one Bulls fans in the world that loves LeBron. I was a little pissed that he didn't join us come "Decision" time, but I got over it, and I like watching him play more than any one player today outside of Derrick Rose. He may not have the best jumpshot, but man can he bully his way to the hoop any time he wants to. So with Rose out, he's the best player in the NBA. How do you beat this man?

Well...there's another reason why I love LeBron, and its because him and I are kindred souls psychologically. This is no compliment to either of us--but it's also why the Heat are beatable. The sort of hyper-sensitive, lack of self-awareness that LeBron fosters can only be understood if you go through the same thing. He always says the wrong things, even though he thinks they're right, and then he cowers from big moments.

Reason #1 why the Heat are beatable: LeBron's Psyche


If you disagree, see last year's NBA finals, the Eastern Conference Finals the year before that, this year's All Star game, and heck, the last time he bricked some free throws against the Bulls. He's a sensitive dude, and sensitive guys (myself included) cower when they aren't 110% confident in their abilities. Clearly, as much as I'm sure he'd never admit it, he isn't. It's why he defers to Wade, and its also why Kobe was the alpha dog on the last Olympic team. Sorry Bron, maybe you'll be better at stockpicking (I am).

Everyone needs to understand their limitations, which brings me to my next point...

Reason #2 why the Heat are beatable: LeBron loves his jump shot


What happens when you're EASILY the best in the NBA at getting to the rim since Michael Jordan?

If you thought, take it to the rim every time you need a bucket, you were totally wrong. LeBron would much rather shoot his very streaky and inconsistent pull-up jumper at the top of the key rather than take it to the rim every time. Why? I don't know, but he does it. And when he does that, the Bulls can rejoice with easy rebounds and transition buckets.

When he takes it to the rim? That's fine, you know, we're just the BEST rotational defense in the league. Joakim will force him to dish it out to Battier or Mike Miller, who will quickly be closed out on, and mess their 3's, leading to a fast-break opportunity and more points.

Which brings me to the third reason...

Reason #3 why the Heat are so beatable...The team sucks outside of LeBron and Wade


Joel Anthony, Mario Chalmers, Juwan Howard, Udonis fricken Haslem...I'm not sure if any of these guys would even make the Bulls roster, let alone see the court. Heck, I don't think Battier or Miller would be rotation guys either. And Norris Cole kind of sucks now.

Chris Bosh you say? Whatever, Bosh has somehow become a worse player than Carlos Boozer, and I'm actually glad we got Boozer over Bosh and Amare. He's no real threat (though he killed us last year). I don't see him bouncing back from a fairly mediocre season in the playoffs.

This comes down to Wade + LeBron vs the Bulls. And, assuming LeBron reverts to his old, nervous self, that leaves us with a Wade vs Bulls match-up. I'm comfortable with that.

Talking Knicks and Linsanity, victory over the Heat

There was a great article in the New York Times about the end of Linsanity, and talked a bit with a friend/reader about the Melo- D'antoni feud. As much as I loathe the Knicks, this is a great story, with a bevy of opinions.

If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I've never been a buyer of Jeremy Lin. I watched him play pretty well, lighting up mediocre point guards, and taking more shots than Allen Iverson. The flaws in his game were clear as day: he can't go left, he can't really handle the ball, and he makes a lot of unforced turnovers.

Yet, there's no doubt he can play. Is he a top 5 point guard as many speculated? Not by a long shot..

1. Derrick Rose
2. Deron Williams
3. Chris Paul
4. Russell Westbrook
5. Steve Nash
6. Rajon Rondo
7. Kyrie Irving (I'm going to regret putting him behind Rondo)
8. Tony Parker
9. Ricky Rubio (can't shoot, but neither can Rondo)
10. Kyle Lawry

And you can argue that CJ Watson, Eric Bledsoe, Darren Collison, Andre Miller, Brandon Knight, Ty Lawson, Mike Conley, Jeff Teague and John Wall are on another level above Lin. So, yeah, he's basically a league average guard playing in New York.

So if Linsanity is over, I wouldn't worry about it. There are at least 15-20 better point guards in the league (and a few are back-ups!).

When did Linsanity die for me? Not surprisingly, against Los Bulls, earlier this week. In the 4th quarter we saw Carmelo Anthony, one of the best half-court scorers in the NBA, calling for the ball against a combination of ROOKIE Jimmy Butler and Ronnie Brewer. Now, both are excellent defenders, but still, Carmelo is one of the best scorers in the game. He should be getting the ball in the 4th quarter.

Nope, Lin waves him off. Possession after possession, Lin seems to give the ball to anyone but Carmelo, until he demands the rock within the last 2 minutes (and puts up a few moments of epic chucking).

Frankly, I don't give a damn how good Lin thinks he is. He's still a 2nd year player refusing to defer to one of the best scorers in the game. And D'Antoni didn't care.

This begs the question, who's more important: Carmelo Anthony or Jeremy Lin?

In my eyes, that's a no brainer...it's probably the guy you traded several starters for. Probably one of the best scorers in the game, a guy who is considered the 3rd best small forward in the NBA.

And since D'Antoni has tried to force his run n' gun, open court style of basketball on a team built around a dominant isolation player, we've seen Carmelo go into hiding. New York fans seem to forget that Melo is awesome. He's a fantastic, top 10 NBA player who should be celebrated a  lot more than a league-average point guard. Maybe this is crazy, but I think this team is better without D'Antoni and without a Lin/Melo feud.


Talking Wednesday's game against the Heat...


John Lucas III is one of my favorite players, mainly because he might even be a little shorter than me and posts hilarious shit on Twitter. He came to play, scoring efficiently, lighting up LeBron and not really turning the ball over. I'm so impressed...to the point where I might end up ordering my Lucas jersey.

Of course, Deng is clearly more hurt than he's let on. He played alright, but a healthy Deng doesn't let LeBron score at will.

Boozer looked ineffective, as is the norm for him against the Heat. He had TWO points. I'm not sure what it is, but I'll give him a pass since he's looked like Utah Boozer the last few weeks. We might actually need him in the Eastern Conference Finals, though. So Carlos, come to play.

As for the enemy... I will admit, I still love LeBron. He's one of my favorite players, and as a former headcase athlete, I genuinely feel sorry for him. He's usually the best player on the court, but once that 4th quarter comes, or something throws him off, he's not what he should be. I'd love to beat the Heat with a beasting LeBron, but that might not happen.

Dwyane Wade on the other hand went nuts in the 4th quarter. He almost single-handedly won the game and looked like an MVP out there. Let's rejoice in victory and not think about what could have happened.

And now...

BEAT THE BLA (uh, what the hell did they do at the deadline?)... I guess this is the Blazers!