Eastern Conference Finals (Playoff): Chicago Bulls(1) Vs Miami Heats(2)

It's not that the Bulls offense is run that poorly, it's that they have a bunch of defensive specialists that are extremely limited on offense. I can't imagine another coach having consistent offensive success against this Heat defense with players like Ronnie Brewer and Joakim Noah destroying any possible spacing.

 

Wrong.

Wade's statement could mean the majority of sports fans hate Miami Heat, which would be flatout untrue.

Barkley statement could mean the majority of sports fans don't care about Miami Heat, which would be true.

So yes, it is the same thing once you stop interpreting their statements so that it fits your argument.

See what I did there? Barkley said NOBODY, Wade said EVERYBODY. But you interpret what they said in terms of Basketball when in truth it was ambiguous. So why are you penalizing Barkley only when what I said could very well be true?

It's not that hard to understand, I think the problem is because you can't follow math logic thats why you don't see the connection.

 

I won't even argue this further because it's inane, but as I said I find Wade's sentiment to be much closer to reality than Barkley's, which is a personal opinion and has nothing to do with math.

And I have passed many a math and logic courses throughout the years, I'm pretty sure I can connect the dots.

 

Exactly, it is a personal opinion. And in my personal opinion what Wade meant by the "world" is all sports fans in general, which is equally plausible and possible. Nothing makes your statement more credible than mine.

But this is what you said and what my argument has revolved around.

So yes, I pointed out the flaw in your argument because Barkley was responding to Wade in Wade's context. Wade said the world hates Miami Heat, Barkley responded with nobody hates Miami Heat. Both are not meant to be taken literally, so why should Barkley's?

If you really could connect the dot, then you could see why your argument is flawed. And if you can, problem solved, no big deal and no pride lost.

 

It's not a big deal, I appreciate that you can respond thoughtfully without personal attacks. We will just have to disagree on these points.

 

Pretty quiet in here right now...

 

Where is Ben Gorden ?

 

All we do is type on this forum, its always quiet

 

I think most people here have a job.

 

Here are some game 3 stats:

Miami:

47.1% in game 1
47.1% in game 2
50.7% in game 3.

Overall they are shooting 48.2% (98-203)

Bulls:
43.7% in game 1
34.1 % in game 2
41.6% in game 3

Overall they are shooting 39.8% (98-246)

 

You mean Ben Gordon? He's with the Pistons now, for about 2 years already.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post?id=7913

LeBron's low-scoring, high-impact Game 3

In terms of points per game, LeBron James is the fourth-leading scorer in the history of the NBA Playoffs, and the leader in playoff points per game among active players. But what makes James truly special is that he's so much more than a scorer; James can impact a game in more ways than perhaps any other player in the league. In the playoffs against the elite defensive teams that James has traditionally struggled to score efficiently against, he often tries to compensate by ratcheting up his effort level on both ends of the floor, and this post-season has been no different.

James didn't look for his shot for most of Game 3, and only had 12 points coming into the fourth quarter. Yet LeBron had already used his ancillary skills to make his mark on the game:

Passing
Statistically speaking, James has actually been a less effective passer in Miami than he was in Cleveland, despite being flanked by more talented teammates. James averaged 1.6 fewer assists per game in Miami than he did in the 2009-10 season. What's more surprising is that more of his passes led to high-percentage opportunities for his Cavalier teammates than they have for his squadmates in Miami.

According to Hoopdata.com, James averaged four assists that led to assists or dunks per game in the 09-10 season. This season, that number was cut in half, and James only set up 2.1 dunks or layups per game. In Game 3, however, LeBron was back to making home-run passes, and some of his 10 assists were absolute beauties:

With just under seven minutes to go in the first quarter, LeBron held the ball near the sideline well outside of the 3-point line. Joel Anthony, whom the Bulls were wisely ignoring in order to build a wall between James and the hoop, was able to sneak under the basket. LeBron then made a pass that would be impossible for most players -- an absolute frozen rope of a look-away pass that whizzed by the ears of the confused Chicago defense and found its way into Anthony's hands for an easy dunk.
Later in the quarter, James forced a rare Chicago defensive breakdown by grabbing a rebound, starting a semi-transition break himself, and weaving through the Chicago defense near the top of the 3-point line. When the Chicago defense was forced to collapse, James flipped an easy little look-away pass to Chris Bosh, who got his two easiest points of the night on a wide-open dunk.
With just over a minute to go in the half, James set Bosh up for another dunk. James actually doesn't deserve most of the credit for this score, as Bosh got open by making a beautiful curl to the rim off a well-placed Mike Bibby screen. Still, LeBron read the play perfectly and delivered a bullet, and a dunk was the result.
With the game tied halfway through the third quarter, LeBron stepped up and played perfect help defense to contest a Carlos Boozer layup and force a miss. On the ensuing fast-break, LeBron forced four Chicago defenders to swarm to the paint, then calmly swung the ball out to Bibby for a wide-open go-ahead 3. The Heat led the game the rest of the way.


Those were the highlight-reel passes for LeBron, but those plays don't fully capture the value of his passing in Game 3; he did set up his teammates with some open mid-range shots that they were kind enough to knock down for him, and the "hockey assists" LeBron got whenever the Heat posted him up and forced a Chicago double-team almost always led to a good look.

Defense
It's incredible to watch a game like the one on Sunday and remember that LeBron really wasn't an impact defender during his first few years in the league. James was absolutely everywhere on defense in Game 3, and it would have been one of the better defensive performances of his career if he hadn't fallen asleep on a Luol Deng back-door cut early and gambled to set Deng up with an open corner-3 late in the game.

James has the reputation among some as being a "flash over fundamentals" defender from people who see only his breathtaking chase-down blocks and the occasional lapses like the ones described above. The truth is that his size, speed, athleticism and instincts have turned him into one of the best perimeter defenders in the game, even if his defensive stance still looks a little flat-footed and he doesn't put on the "pull up your shorts and bark at your assignment for 60 feet" antics that most top man-to-man defenders engage in.

LeBron's off-ball defense was amazing in Game 3. LeBron can sometimes get caught ball-watching, over-gambling, or taking possessions off as a weak-side defender in the regular season, but he seems to take a special pleasure in demoralizing teams by regularly coming out of nowhere to make plays in the postseason.

In this game, LeBron swatted two of his former teammate Boozer's shots at the rim by being in perfect position to help, stopped multiple fast breaks by sprinting back and either getting in front of the ball handler or putting the fear of the chase-down block in his head. James came up with two steals, the latter of which led to an and-1 in transition that effectively ended the game.

Somehow LeBron was still able to shut down Luol Deng -- one of the Bulls' two players capable of creating his own shot off the dribble -- in man-to-man coverage while seeming to be everywhere at once on the weakside. James got up into Deng's body and forced him to try and go left, which Deng didn't seem comfortable doing at all. Deng needed 13 shots to get his 14 points, didn't get to the foul line once and scored only four unassisted points, two of which came on an offensive rebound. The Bulls came into this series with the best defense in the league, but the argument can be made that James has been the best defensive player in the series over the course of the first three games.

LeBron also did some other "little things" to help the Heat take a 2-1 series lead. He dove for loose balls and drew a quick second foul (which led to an unfortunate homophobic slur from Noah on the bench) by properly boxing Noah out and forcing him to try and come over LeBron's back. James once again played the role of closer, scoring 10 of his 22 in the final period and putting the Bulls away with the aforementioned steal/and-1 to put the Heat up by double-digits with just over five minutes to play.

LeBron came into the league as a special athlete with otherworldly court vision for a man his size. Over the first few years of his NBA career, he quickly honed his offensive game enough to become one of the best scorers in the league. When the Cavaliers started making deep playoff runs, LeBron transformed himself into an impact defensive player.

LeBron's scoring will always be the thing people focus on most, but on Sunday his biggest contributions came from the passing skills he came into the league with and the defensive ability he worked so hard on in the middle of his career as he tried to make the jump he now finds himself six wins away from making: the leap from one of the NBA's best talents to an NBA champion.

 

Yeah, it's so sad that we have a conference Finals without the Lakers, Spurs, or Celtics for only the second time in the last 13 years. What is the league coming to?

 

What about the coach who was able to have consistent offensive success with defensive players like Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes getting a lot of minutes (and without the benefit of having Derrick Rose at pg)?

 

If Bosh isn't a top 5 PF, who would you rank ahead of him?

 

Bulls look weirdly intimidated and undisciplined out there. I think they're losing the mental game, making silly mistakes and not playing half court setup basketball like they've been doing all season, instead being influenced to run and gun and commit stupid turnovers.

Credit goes to Miami's defense for pressuring them into this. However they have been given some help by the refs, hate to pull that card but Rose should be getting more fouls driving to the lane when he gets collapsed on by 2-3 defenders.

Chicago's bench has been almost non-existant; Korver having a bad shooting series, Bogans/Brewer/Watson doing nothing at all. The bench needs to perform if they're gonna pull this out.


It isn't like Miami's blown out Chicago, the games have been close and ugly. Chicago's defense is playing decent, Miami's defense is playing better. Chicago's offense is playing like crap, Miami's is not playing better, but has more star power to support individual efforts. Everything that helped Miami lose game 1, is helping them win games 2 and 3. The problem for Miami wasn't that they needed more ball movement or any new schemes/plays/strategies...they just needed their stars to hit their shots and make their own shots.

Chicago has Rose that can make his own shot....after that they have nothing. They rely heavily on plays, running a flex offense with a healthy dose of screens, rolls, curls. Miami is jumping the screens and trapping the ball, making it difficult to move the ball; Chicago can't move the ball and has only 1 guy who can create a shot and thus can't produce offense.




If the Bulls lose this series, they'll be looking to trade someone in the offseason for sure to pick up someone who can create their own shot. It's irritating to think of what "couldve been" as we had opportunities at Melo and Mayo earlier this year. I still would'nt have parted with Joakim or Taj, but what can you do. I'm still holding out hope that Deng gets his **** together and they work on tightening up the interior defense, as well as Korvers shot and the bench production. Thibs gave them the day off to study film today, and I think thats a smart move. It'll hopefully keep them fresh, help them get mentally correct and be ready to go come Tuesday.

PS:
My respect for Lebron's game has grown this series. His defense is definitely ratcheted up, he looks more willing to pass and take a back seat on offense, yet still step up in the 4th. Also he's shown more of an ability to close than ever. Still think he's a douche as a person, but can't deny the talent. Maybe he does turn out more Magic than Michael. Shame though, he could've definitely gone more Michael had he wanted too.

 

i get frustrated when lebron doesn't score but i have to agree with the article, amazing overall game. his defense was lock down scary.

 

Dirk
Amare
Love
Aldridge
Gasol

 

Since gasol played gay in the playoffs ill replace him

with z-bo

 

How bout he just be the first LeBron, since he is doing things that neither Magic or Jordan did this postseason. He is dropping 25 pts (team high), 9 boards (0.2 off from the team high), 5.4 dimes (team high), 2nd in steals and blocks, on 47% shooting and 36% from behind the arc. He is also the team's primary defender (Iggy, Pierce/KG, Rose in the 4th) whether it's against a PG or PF. Magic only scored this much in one postseason, and he never was the primary defender. Jordan never rebounded like this and he was never the primary defender (well not when they were winning). He also was never the main initiator.

It's quite possible for the Heat to win the title and for him to lead the team in points, rebounds and assists....all while being the primary defender. That's amazing.