Rose took the would be champs to a 7 game series in 2008, and it was a fantastic bunch of games. I am ecstatic to see the eastern side of the playoffs.
Lets not forget, Rose, Boozer and Noah had a subpar game by their standard as well(or great defense from both team). Its gonna take a few weeks before Noah to get back into game shape. Deng was the only guy that showed up on either team. Oh, the Bulls was on a back to back game.... SO everything was stacked against them. One question for you before I hit the sack. When did you become such a huge Lebron fan, was it before or after the "Decision"?
Kevin Garnett is a fruitcake, where is all that "intensity" when kenyon martin throws you on the ground? The perkins trade will expose kevin garnett for the jolly rancher he really is
He is a good defensive player, he still a fruit cake and he leaned on Perkins more than people realize.
Kenyon Martin's an animal, and doesn't back down from anyone. KG's widely regarded as a punk across the league, and wouldn't dare step up to Special K. He feasts strictly on timid Euro players. On a side note, JR Smith is a beast. He's on the verge of exploding on to the scene after the departure of Melo. This dude can score at will, and he can do it in a variety of ways.
Wow, Denver looks great tonight. Defensive intensity is through the roof, and the Grand Kenyon is balling out against KG. I like that Karl went with the 2-headed monster of Ray Felton and Ty Lawson down the stretch. It's really paying dividends.
I don't think I have ever seen Karl smile that much as much as he was walking to the locker room at the end of the game.
True that, he really looked re-energized, especially during his interview at the half. He sounded very optimistic.
WOW. Chris Bosh: 42 min played 1-18 FG 5-6 FT 9 REB 7 Pts 1 for 18????? By comparison, Boozer went 7-12 with 16 points and 9 rebounds.
both are great defensive teams, so expected some will struggle. rose is a 44% shooter for the season and his effiency isn't something to talk about. he'll have games like this more in the playoffs shooting wise w/ lebron checking him more. boozer played awesome actually. noah got in foul trouble but he played awesome when he was in there in terms of rebounding. he kept them in the game in the first half LITERALLY w/ his offensive rebounding. and luol deng had arguably his best overall game last night in terms of offense, defense, rebounding, clutch. yes the bulls played on a b2b so props for that. the bulls have no way of stopping lebron and wade so that trend will continue. lebron was too passive b/c he (for some odd reason) tried to get bosh going too many times ad that let the bulls back. but let's check one thing that will NEVER happen again: bosh going 1-18. he makes 2-3 of those shots early on and this game might have been blown open in the first half. that was TOTALLY unexpected. he's been very consistent this year offensively. the heat bench: 2 pts. mike miller didn't play so that was expected. their shooters are too streaky. again, i still think only boston can beat the heat. but we'll see how the bulls progress.
I've been saying for a while only Boston could knock the Heat out in the EC playoffs. Not sure of that anymore. In a series, game-planning comes into effect and if the Bulls get back on defense and make it purely half-court, the Heat's offense will need to be not-so-predictable or they could be in real trouble. Bulls will also shut off drives to the basket and force the Heat into making jumpers. I give Thibs a big edge over Spoelstra (who I also like). A Bulls/Heat ECFs is definitely what I want now that I don't think the Celtics can beat the Lakers.
you're right that the celtics won't beat the lakers, match-ups wise. but boston still matches up well with the heat. wade is going to keep struggling b/c he has to guard ray allen all game. and there is KG on bosh. although, they most likely won't beat the lakers now, they still beat miami 2x w/o perkins. miami don't have a big man anyways so it really doesn't matter much. i think the big 3 will show up vs the bulls. the bulls just have nobody to guard wade. and bosh just had a bad game. regardless, it's shaping up to be a great playoffs in the east. don't forget melo and amare might meeting either boston, chicago, or miami in the first round. whoever gets the 3 seed most likely could face NY, then having to face a tough 2nd round. 1st seed will be crucial for an easier path to the ECF
The Knicks don't impress me at all. They have more work to do. None of the big 3 have much to fear from that team. The difference in defense alone pretty much dooms the Knicks against any of them. My gut reaction on the Celtics trade is still very negative. I need to watch them play a few games and maybe I'll snap out of it. Maybe Jeff Green needed a fresh start to play his best. If not, the Celtics will be very sorry they traded for him. A Boston writer compared him on offense to KG and McDyess. This is so clueless it isn't funny. People are all over the map. When the Heat face a great defensive team in the playoffs like the Celts or Bulls, we'll see if their roster is balanced enough to succeed. It's night-and-day compared to the regular season. If their role players don't hit outside shots, they will go down. The Heat will finish with the best regular season record in the NBA unless something weird happens. But I don't believe they are necessarily the best playoff team.
I agree with the above. To Tmac_1 No star player can be stopped in this league. You can only contain them. I would be more concern about the Heat's thin bench heading into the playoff. Defense will go up a notch with some low scoring in the 80-90pt range. With that said, a team with a deep bench is beneficial. The Bulls and Celtics have that type of bench. What's the Heat record against the top 5 team coming in? Wasn't it 1-6 or 1-7? They need to improve on that before even thinking of crowning Lebron MVP.
