Woj - Bulls corral LeBron, win Game 1

truebluefan · May 16, 2011

As the Heat danced on the graves of the Boston Celtics on the shores of Biscayne Bay, declaring the source of ghosts and goblins gone, the Bulls privately bristled and believed something to their core: Nowhere else would the Heat meet a worse matchup, a blurring, blitzing blend of defensive ferocity and scheme. Nowhere else would the Heat’s star find a test like these Chicago Bulls.

Had these Heat come to the Eastern Conference finals expecting a coronation, a victory lap on the resurrection of a jagged season, the Bulls were waiting in the shadows of a dark alley, waiting for the whistling Heat to come strutting around the corner and catch a 2x4 upside their heads. Every day the Bulls are reminded that they were the bargain-bin leftovers in free agency, the holdovers still on the roster because James, Wade and Chris Bosh(notes) declined full scholarships. All that aggression, all the anger, all that belief bottled was delivered in a devastating 103-82 Game 1 victory at the United Center on Sunday night.
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Despite his terrific performance, Bosh was kidding himself when he refused to differentiate between Boston and Chicago’s defense. “It’s all the same,” he said. No, it’s something else here. And the Heat know that, because they’ve lost four straight times to it this season. Only, this one mattered the most. Only, this was the start of the playoffs and Thibodeau, the NBA coach of the year, and Rose, the MVP, had sold the rest of these Bulls – sold themselves – on the notion that they had been disrespected and discarded.

James had ended the conference semifinals bowing down on one knee to honor the beating back of his ghosts against the Celtics. This time, the Bulls are threatening something else, threatening to bring him to both knees. Just one game, yes, but the truth tumbled down onto the floor of the United Center, and it had to leave the Heat wondering how they could’ve ever believed they had left demons in their postseason wake. Boston’s fading, but the Bulls are on the come. The Bulls are the Big Three’s worst nightmare.

Demons? Bogeymen? For LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and these Heat, maybe they’re finally facing them now.
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Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...jnarowski_bulls_beat_lebron_heat_game1_051611

Good Hope · May 16, 2011

I like the angle in his article about the sense of disrespect, and of being the leftovers. It's good drama. But I'm not sure how much that's real.

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Woj - Bulls corral LeBron, win Game 1

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Woj - Bulls corral LeBron, win Game 1

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