I thought Boozer's defense was unusually good last night. Anyone else agree? I"m not just talking about Bosh's shooting either. His rotations seemed to be very good. A few thoughts: I think we can take the heat in a 7 game series, but the idea of playing them makes me nervous. Their rotations are very good. I can't remember the last time Rose had such a hard time getting to his spots. For me last night personified where the Heat are as a team. Obviously they're very good. Maybe championship good. Lebron and DWade are insanely good. But they lost to a good team last night because their bench scored 2 points, and only 5 points were scored in the second half by anyone except their big two.
Agree on Boozer's D. In fairness though, he defended the Heat's center when Noah was in there with him and the Heat's Cs aren't offensive threats. When Boozer had Bosh, Bosh had a lot of open looks, but just kept missing (God bless his black-toothed little heart). Also, Boozer may have been more effective in help situations than usual because the offense was coming only from the top and wings (in front of him) rather than down low. If the Bulls play the Heat in the playoffs, I suspect that the Heat will be favored by most regardless of who had home court advantage. They're the more talented team, particularly if you just add up the "talent points" (a mythical measure) of the top 7 players on each team (the ones who get the vast majority of the minutes in the playoffs). Still, I certainly agree with you that the Bulls could take the Heat in a 7-game series. One of the problems the Heat have is that only one guy at a time can shoot the ball (if there were 2 balls in play simultaneously, the Heat would be unstoppable)...there's a little bit of a waste factor with 2 uber-stars like James and Wade so the Heat aren't quite as good as the sum of their parts. Also, since the playoffs often end up being a halfcourt battle with the emphasis on inside dominance, the nature of the playoff beast doesn't favor the Heat.
After watching last night, I like our chances in the playoffs. Bosh ain't going to go 1-18 every night but we don't need to give them nearly as many points in transition either.
We're also not going to shoot 4 for 21 from 3 point range every game either. We and the Heat are closely matched. It'd be a great series.
True Bosh is not going to shoot that badly and we are not going to shoot that poorly in 3's, nor is Deng going to get just 2 points in a half, Thomas will also play a little during the playoffs, and lastly, Noah won't have the rust he has now.
