Series Preview: Chicago Bulls v.s. Miami Heat

<div align="center"> <font size="6"> Win Or Go Home!</font>


<font color="Orange">Miami Heat (52-30)</font> at <font color="DarkRed">Chicago Bulls (41-41)</font>
Game Six: Thursday, 7:00pm vs. Heat
TV: TNT

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With history on their side, the Chicago Bulls will try to defend their home court once again and force a Game Seven with the Miami Heat tonight at the United Center (7:00 p.m. CT | TNT, CSN/ESPN Radio 1000).With Miami's superstar battling a bruised hip, the Bulls hope to avoid elimination when the teams meet in Game Six of their first-round series.

Dwyane Wade suffered a left hip contusion in the second quarter of Miami's 92-78 victory in Game Five. The league's fifth-leading scorer, Wade poured in 15 of his 28 points after returning to the game midway through the third quarter. Antoine Walker scored 17 points and Shaquille O'Neal contributed 16 for the Heat, who expect to have Wade available for this contest.

Chicago is trying to rebound from its hideous 34 percent shooting effort in Game Five. Andres Nocioni scored 23 points, but the Bulls' starting backcourt of Kirk Hinrich and Ben Gordon combined for only 19 points on 6-of-29 shooting.

The situation is quite a familiar one for Miami, which held a 3-2 series lead on Detroit in last season's Eastern Conference finals before an injury to Wade, combined with some poor play, led to the team losing the last two games of the series. The Heat also are battling history. They are 0-9 all-time in playoff games in Chicago and played poorly in losing Games Three and Four here by an average of 12.5 points.

If necessary, Game Seven would be played in Miami on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT (7:00 p.m. CT | TNT, CSN/ESPN Radio 1000). Tune in to watch tonight's game on TNT and Comcast SportsNet Chicago and listen to it on ESPN Radio 1000 (pregame at 6:30 p.m.).</font>

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<font color="Darkred"> Chicago Bulls</font>



<font size=""1""><font color=""DarkRed"">PG</font>- Kirk Hinrich
<font color=""DarkRed"">SG</font>- Ben Gordon
<font color=""DarkRed"">SF</font>- Malik Allen
<font color=""DarkRed"">PF</font>- Andres Nocioni
<font color=""DarkRed"">C</font>- Michael Sweetney</font>


<font size=""1"">Coach: Scott Skiles</font>

<font size="3">Season Stats</font>
Leading Scorer: Ben Gordon- 17.0 PPG
Leading Rebounder: Tyson Chandler- 9.0 RPG
Assist Man: Kirk Hinrich- 6.3 APG
The 'X' Factor: Luol Deng (14.3 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.9 APG)

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<font color="Orange">Miami Heat</font>



<font size=""1""><font color=""Orange"">PG</font>- Jason Williams
<font color=""Orange"">SG</font>- Dwyane Wade
<font color=""Orange"">SF</font>- Antoine Walker
<font color=""Orange"">PF</font>- Udonis Haslem
<font color=""Orange"">C</font>- Shaquille O?Neal</font>

<font size=""1"">Coach: Pat Riley</font>

<font size="3">Season Stats</font>
Leading Scorer: Dwyane Wade - 27.3 PPG
Leading Rebounder: Shaquille O?Neal- 9.2 RPG
Assist Man: Dwyane Wade - 6.7 APG
The 'X' Factor: Shaquille O?Neal (20.0 PPG, 9.2 RPG, 1.9 APG)

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<ul><font color="DarkRed"><font size=""1"">Ball Control</font></font> <font size=""1"">over 20 turnovers in game five another night like that, and the Bulls will be sitting at home watching the second round of the playoffs. They need to control the ball, and have a good game from the Axis of Offense (Gordon, Hinrich, and Nocioni).</font>[/list]

<ul><font color="DarkRed"><font size=""1"">Win Or Go Home</font></font> <font size=""1""> the Bulls have to realize how big this game is. They cannot come out flat, and expect to win. The Bulls are 9-0 all time in the playoffs when facing the Heat at UC. Let?s make it 10-0 tonight. </font>[/list]


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<ul><font color="Orange"><font size=""1"">Stay out of foul trouble </font></font> <font size=""1""> can?t let Shaq get into foul trouble when he is not in foul trouble he dominates. </font>[/list]

<ul><font color="Orange"><font size=""1""> Don?t play around </font></font> <font size=""1"">knock the Bulls down early, and don?t let them get back up keep going at them, and don?t let the Bulls get back in the game. </font>[/list]


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<font size="1">I?m sticking to my story Bulls in seven game, and in a route tonight. Let?s go Bulls. BTW sorry about the length of the preview, but with the end of the school year coming I have a lot of school work to do. Once again my apologizes.</font>

 

the big game has begun.

 

we have started off poorly, shooting 1 - 10.

 

shooting better now. only down 6.

 

Miami has come out on fire, and the Bulls are playing horrible. They are hitting the offensive boards, but not connecting on any of their shots. Gordon has started off poorly, and so has just about everyone else outside of Nocioni. The Bulls need to pick it up fast if they hope to win this game. Come on Bulls!

 

this is terrible.

 

Very nice shot by Duhon at the end. 29-19 Heat after 1.

 

5 points in the last 24 seconds helped out a dismal beginning. 10 points aint all that bad considering.

 

*sigh* look forward to next season.

 

Gordon is shooting nothing but 3s.

 

Bulls making a comeback - sorta - only down by 7

 

55-41 for the Heat at half. It's not over, but it certainly isn't looking good.

 

nothing is ever over for the Bulls but jesus gotta play better.

 

Bulls are back in it only down by nine right now. The thing we are struggling with tonight is finding the open man we aren’t making the extra pass, and aren’t getting it to the hot hand. Not only that, but we cannot get Shaq in foul trouble. Damn just when I say we back in it the Heat pull away again.

 

well thats the season.

Dissappointing again in the playoffs.

 

Anybody know what the fans at the United Center did when the Bulls lost? Cheers? Silence?

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting I-Miss-MJ:</div><div class="quote_post">well thats the season.

Dissappointing again in the playoffs.</div>
I wouldn't say they where disappointing at all they gave the Heat all they could handle, and then some. The experience factor, and not being able to convert on second chance opportunities is what cost us this series. The Heat will not make it far in the playoffs if they do not improve there play tremendously, more so on the defensive end than anything. Shaq and Wade had really good games tonight props to them.

What I want to know is can Gordon, Hinrich, and Nocioni continue to perform like they did in this series come next year. If they do, with the addition of Aldridge to the team, as well as free agent signings, we will go deep in the playoffs next year. I expect this team to compete for home court next year, and be a serious factor come playoff time. I am not as disappointed with this series lose as I was last year when Washington beat us, because then I felt we had a better team.

The Bulls have laid down the foundation for a winning franchise for years to come in this years playoffs. Had we had a big man who knows how this series might have turned out. Oh, well I’m really excited for this off season, and seeing who we bring in/draft.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting I-Miss-MJ:</div><div class="quote_post">well thats the season.

Dissappointing again in the playoffs.</div>
Dissappointing?
Bulls gave the Heat 1 or 2 games more than they thought would have to play.
Bulls were surprising not Dissappointing

 

<font size="6">Heat Win Series 4-2</font>

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> Shaquille O'Neal showed up to show the Chicago Bulls the door.

O'Neal turned back the clock when he used to dominate on a nightly basis as the Miami Heat coasted into the Eastern Conference semifinals with a 113-96 victory over the Bulls in Game 6 of their first-round series.

A three-time NBA Finals MVP, the 7-1, 325-pound O'Neal finished with 30 points and 20 rebounds in his best game of the series for the second-seeded Heat.

Unlike Games 3 and 4 here when he battled foul trouble and combined for just 24 points and 12 rebounds, O'Neal had no trouble staying on the court Wednesday. The Bulls had no answers and were eliminated in the first round for a second straight year.

O'Neal toyed with the combination of Tyson Chandler and Mike Sweetney and made 13-of-24 shots in 38 minutes.

With O'Neal leading the way, the Heat - who lost both Games 3 and 4 - were in control from the outset. They never trailed and built a double-digit lead in the first quarter before settling for a 55-41 cushion at the half.

O'Neal had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Dwyane Wade scored 11 points in the first half, when the Heat shot 56 percent (20-of-36). Chicago shot a woeful 32 percent (12-of-38) in the first half and never were able to recover.

Wade had little trouble with the bruised hip he suffered in Game 5 as he scored 23 points before fouling out and Udonis Haslem had 17 and 14 rebounds for Miami, which will meet third-seeded New Jersey in the conference semifinals. New Jersey won three of the four meetings between the teams during the regular season.

The Heat were in control the entire second half, although the Bulls got as close as 97-88 with 4:57 remaining on Ben Gordon's three-point play. But Haslem scored five straight points and James Posey had a steal and layup to help the Heat put away the game.

Posey made five 3-pointers and scored 18 points for Miami, which had been 0-9 all-time at Chicago in the postseason.

Kirk Hinrich scored 23 points, Gordon 21 and Andres Nocioni 20 for the Bulls, who shot 41 percent (31-of-75) and were outrebounded, 51-34.</div>

<div align="center">Recap l Box Score</div>

 

Tought lose, but hopefully we will improve this season... Seriously though, Chandler better start early and do some work on his offense game and in the weight room. He needs to develope an offensive game by next season or I'll be pissed, atleast a mid-range jumper. I'm pretty sure the Bulls can hire a shooting specialist to help him. And hopefully we get some good draft picks, and go even further next season. GO BULLS!