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It's amazing what happens when a team plays some defense! While the Bulls had allowed the Miami Heat to score an average of 113 points in the first game to their own 107, last night saw the Bulls beat the Heat 109-90.
Ben Gordon led a balanced attack with 24 points, followed by Kirk Hinrich with 22, and Andres Nocioni and Loul Deng each chipped in 19.
The Bulls defense shut down Shaquille O'Neal, limiting the superstar to benchwarmer stats -- 8 points, 4 rebounds and 7 turnovers. The biggest mismatch matchup in this series, if the Bulls can continue to hold down Shaq, they might actually have a chance.
Michael Jordan was seen cheering on the Bulls from a skybox last night, clearly enjoying the rebirth of the franchise he to took to levels rarely seen in sports. This team has a long way to go to equal what MJ's teams of the 90's did, be they sure look like they're moving in the right direction.
Chicagoist hopes we'll see another Bulls victory on Sunday, although they will still likely exit the playoffs in the first round this year. But last night's win, along with the two tight games in Miami, shows that the difference between them and the #2 seed isn't that great. As the current players mature, a top-3 draft pick gets added to the mix and the Bulls use salary cap money to bring in some help via free agency, this team could be the #2 seed next year.
Image via Yahoo!News
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The Bulls have a bright future ahead but not in this series. Yes they defended brilliantly against Shaq's free throws (he was 0 for 6 from the stripe), but try not to read too much into the Heat's abysmal night. Only Jason Williams played well, everyone else lost their cool. No way that happens again Sunday.
The Miami Herald's columnist sums it up well:
"Thursday was an aberration, not a trend. Consider the Bulls the blind-folded person up against the wall, and Miami the firing squad that somehow had its rifles jam up on the kill shot."
Benjy -
You know, no one here seems to really care about the Bulls, at least not enough to comment on articles about them, but I'm glad that you guys file Bulls articles whenever something significant happens with the team.
I mean this sincerely.
The Bulls are part of the fabric of the city, so no media source that claims to offer a glimpse into daily life in Chicago should ignore the city's sports. Sports may be overemphasized as part of the bread and circuses atmosphere that permeates American society. That doesn't mean there is no place for them.
Plus, I know I check out Chicagoist sister sites all the time, so I imagine other people do the same. Thanks to Jordan, people everywhere know the Bulls, so including them in Chicagoist, even if the coverage is sometimes ignored, offers a sense of continuity when folks from afar get curious about what's happening in Chicago today.
Keep it up...
Justin - You're probably right, although last night's game showed a couple things.
For one, it confirmed as bogus the idea that Shaq can just show up for the playoffs and dominate at will after sleepwalking through the regular season.
Two, Skiles should be getting more attention as an elite coach. The Bulls may be a couple players away from being a true contender, but Skiles probably gets more out of this team than anyone else could.