The situation the Chicago Bulls found themselves in on Wednesday night was nothing new to this squad. In fact, it’s seemed to be a recurring theme for them. You could almost script out how the game would end. The Bulls battled through a rough shooting night, but they scratched, clawed and scrapped all night long to hang around. They battled through a few Miami runs and put together a couple runs of their own, and Taj Gibson came out red hot to start the fourth quarter. Gibson put down a hammer of a dunk with 7:16 remaining in the game for Chicago to pull even for the first time since the early minutes of the second half, erasing what was once an 11-point deficit. The crowd erupted and came to their feet, almost sensing what was about to happen. This is the part where the Bulls pull away. This is where they ‘beat the Heat’ and put them in a 2-0 hole. They even made another spectacular play moments later when Omer Asik blocked Dwyane Wade on a layup, and the crowd was really roaring. Here comes the run. But it was not to be. To use a cliché, the Bulls couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat in the last 7 minutes, hitting just one field goal attempt out of 11. Miami wasn’t much better, shooting 4-for-10 over that stretch, but LeBron James hit a huge 3 to put the Heat in front and Wade turned a reach-in foul into a shooting foul by jumping after the whistle. He hit both free throws and the Heat never looked back. They pulled away down the stretch for an 85-75 win, one that evens the series at a game apiece and gives home court advantage to Miami.
The biggest key for Miami down the stretch was that they finally managed to limit the Bulls’ offensive rebounds and second chance opportunities. Chicago dominated Miami with 19 offensive rebounds in the first game, and were rolling in that category again on Wednesday with 16 through 3 quarters, but they were held to just one in the final frame, and it was after the game was out of reach. “When the ball was up on the board, they were in the fight,” commented coach Thibodeau. The Heat actually outrebounded the Bulls overall in this one, but much of that was due to the overall abysmal shooting night for Chicago. The Bulls shot just 34% from the floor for the game, and just 3-for-20 from beyond the arc. It also didn’t help that Chicago missed 10 of their 26 free throw tries. The poor shooting coupled with Miami finally boxing out and getting after the boards down the stretch snowballed into the crushing defeat for Chicago. “We’re going to have to make corrections, learn from it, and do a whole lot better down there,” explained Thibs. “We have a lot of things to clean up.” In contrast to the way the Bulls shot, Miami made 47% of their shots from the floor, including 50% or better shooting from all of the ‘big 3’ players. LeBron James totaled 29 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists to lead Miami while fighting through a cold. Dwyane Wade added 24 points and 9 boards, and the Heat got an unexpected lift from Udonis Haslem off the bench who put up 13 and 5 on 5-of-10 shooting after not really playing for most of the playoffs.
“He was the player of the game,” boasted Dwyane Wade. “That’s what we’ve been missing out there all year without him.” Coach Spo spoke even more highly about Haslem: “He’s an absolute championship warrior. Really, what he did tonight, it’s remarkable. Now I question myself for not trying him earlier.” Haslem missed most of the season with injury, and only saw a couple of minutes in the Boston series and at the tail end of game one, but he provided a big boost for Miami in game 2. The Bulls had a dominant advantage in bench points in the first game, but in game 2, Haslem’s 13 had the gap at 20-17, really negating a huge advantage the Bulls have in this matchup. “My main focus tonight was not on scoring,” claimed Haslem. “It was on defense and rebounding. When a shot went up, I was just trying to put a body on guys. If I couldn’t get it, make sure those guys couldn’t get it.” If Haslem continues to play the way that he did in game 2, the Bulls may really struggle to pull this series out. “He’s one of those guys you can’t measure statistically,” lauded coach Thibodeau. “He brings a lot of toughness to their team. High energy guy, terrific defensively, that’s the way he plays.” One thing he also brings is leadership. He did a great job of keeping his guys focused in a huddle late in the game, telling his teammates, “No rebounds, no rings. We can’t win this series without controlling the boards.” That kind of presence can go a long way towards pulling this team together into a cohesive unit, which is something Chicago doesn’t want to see. This series has been billed as a great team against a couple of great players. If Haslem helps the Heat gel into a team, it certainly can be trouble for the Bulls.
What could be even more trouble for the Bulls is their woeful shooting touch. The Bulls were absolutely atrocious shooting the basketball on Wednesday, and low shooting percentages have become a trend for Chicago. Derrick Rose was just 7-for-23 from the field en route to a team high 21 points, and the others were equally as bad. Boozer was 3-for-10, Deng was 5-for-15, and usually sharpshooting Kyle Korver was a miserable 1-for-7, including 1-for-5 from three. “It was everybody just missing shots that are normally just easy for us,” lamented the MVP. It just seemed all night that there was a lid on the rim as one shot after another went in-and-out of the bucket. “We executed, we had good looks,” claimed Deng. “We just have to do a better job of hitting our shots.” A lot of credit was given to the Miami defense for keeping Chicago’s field goal percentage low, but the Bulls contributed to that number quite a bit themselves with open misses. I can’t imagine the Chicago Bulls will shoot this poorly again in game 3, but there were certainly some other flaws that hurt the Bulls on Wednesday.
The Heat really seemed to take charge of this game midway through the third quarter with a 10-0 run that was fueled by the fast break. The Heat turned a block, 2 steals and a missed Ronnie Brewer jumper into 4 straight fast break buckets, two of which were augmented into 3-point plays by a foul. With athletes like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem on the floor, you simply cannot let these guys get easy points out in the open floor. It’s Miami’s bread and butter, and stretches like this can kill Chicago the way they did on Wednesday. “If you put them in the open floor, you’re at a huge disadvantage, particularly if they’ve generated speed,” explained Thibodeau. “You have to take that away.” It will be on Derrick Rose and the rest of the team to not to turn the ball over and give the Heat the opportunities to get out and run as the series progresses.
In order for the Chicago Bulls to bounce back in this series, they will have to ramp up the intensity and find a way to score on the offensive end. While things didn’t bounce the way Chicago would have liked in game 2, they also weren’t happy with their effort. “We played low-energy offense,” stated Thibs. “We played low-energy defense, and the result was not great. I thought it was too easy to start the game for them. I thought they got their confidence early. They had a big second quarter, and I think that got them going. It starts with our defense. Our defense and rebounding are two things we have to be able to count on.” Neither was at peak performance in game 2, and the Bulls will have to search for a way to improve both areas. “We can’t afford to go out there and play like this,” said MVP Derrick Rose. This is the part of the year that all of the work all season long was aimed at. The goal was to be ready for this, and there is no excuse for not having enough energy in these games. “It’s the playoffs, it’s not meant to be easy,” quipped Luol Deng. “Those last 4 or 5 minutes, if you’re tired and you’re at home, you’ve got to find a way to win that game.”
Game 3 will by no means be a series clincher, but it would be pivotal if the Bulls can pull off the victory. They would steal back home court advantage and have a chance to take a commanding lead back home for game 5. When asked if he would be happy with a split in Miami, Carlos Boozer had a quick response: “We want to win every game we play.” If the Heat win game 3, the Bulls will still have an opportunity to pull the series even and regain home court before the return to the United Center. The only thing that is certain about game 3 is that it will be ugly, and it will be intense. “That fourth quarter is probably what’s going to epitomize this entire series,” suggested coach Spoelstra. “It’s an absolute street fight for both teams. It’s physical basketball, defensive-oriented teams.” Both teams have their individual areas of focus (for the Bulls shooting better, limiting fast break points, and tightening the defense, and for Miami continuing to limit offensive rebounds and getting the stars going early) but it is going to come down to which team has more fight left in them down the stretch. The Bulls have prided themselves all season long on working harder than their opponents, and they have to continue to do that if they want to be able to douse the flames of the Heat. They’ve never shied away from hard work before, and I don’t expect them to start now. “We’re definitely confident,” asserted Rose. “I know we just can’t wait to go out there and play again.” They’ll have to wait ‘til Sunday, but the battle these teams go through will almost certainly be worth the wait.
