The hawks looked like they were going to try in the first quarter, but looked they were satisfied with getting a split from about the 10 minute mark on. Bulls need to figure out how to start quicker because the hawks are a totally different team when they are behind.
If not ten minutes in, the Hawks were certainly done by mid way through the second half. I goofed about this in the prediction thread, but I can see the Bulls stringing four wins in a row. Last night certainly wasn't a pretty game, and there are all types of concerns we can point to. The Bulls, as Barkley said at half time, need Derrick Rose to play like an MVP every night to win, and he is playing on a bum ankle. I'm not sure what's going on with Boozer, and Noah hasn't played consistently well. All that being said, I'm not sure the performance we saw last night was much, if any, different than what we saw during the regular season. The Bulls play tough on defense, massacre teams on the boards, hit a few timely shots and come away with the win. It ain't pretty, but it's worked thus far. I'm not sure that that formula will work against the Mavs, Memphis or perhaps the Lakers. But it seems like a pretty successful formula for the Heat and Celtics.
