Bring the D - The Bulls' Only Chance of Winning the Title (Fan Blog 1 of 6)

The Bulls' Best (and Only) Chance of Winning the Title: Defense

Through 10 playoff games, the Bulls have looked rather pedestrian compared their dominant regular season (even though 7-3 record isn't that far off percentage-wise from 62-20).  With the exception of a few games, they've been pushed to the brink in every single game.

What's wrong with our Bulls? Why are they not dominating every single game? Can they still win it all?


(1) What's wrong is the Bulls' shooting. After shooting at a 46% clip throughout the regular season, through 10 games they are around the 42%, with "MVP" Derrick Rose hovering around 40%.  Their reliance on one player is another thing wrong that cannot be fixed in a playoff series, but rather an offseason. However, as my friend Tom has pointed out, with them tying so much money into Rose, Noah and Boozer and a hard-cap possibly coming into play (which is what hockey has and was a big reason in the dismantling of the Blackhawks), it may be difficult to find that fix. It's clear that Boozer is a shell of his former 20-10 self- and no, we never signed him to play defense. This may need to be a team carried by Rose for years to come.

Also, teams who are led specifically by point guards are highly unsuccessful when it comes to winning titles. If you look back at history, the last team you can look at and say they were led by a point guard and won a title was Isaiah Thomas when he led the Pistons to 2 crowns in 1988-89 and 89-90. If Rose remains the only threat, the Bulls' chances of winning titles drops significantly.

(2) They are not dominating every single game because this is the playoffs. The playoffs are a different beast, where you face/prep for the same team for up to 2 straight weeks. You learn a team's preferred plays in certain situations, strengths and weaknesses, etc., which makes the margin of error that much smaller.  To expect the Bulls to just waltz into the Eastern Conference Finals would be asking a lot for a franchise that has won exactly one playoff series since the Jordan era ended before this year.

(3) Despite my prediction of the Bulls falling short in the Eastern Conference Finals to Miami, I do believe that Chicago has a chance to win not only the conference, but the title as well. The key is, and always will be, their defense. In the Bulls' 2 losses to the Hawks so far in their best of 7 series, they allowed the Hawks to shoot 51% and 49% (101.5 points allowed/game), compared to 34%, 47% and 48% (79.3 points allowed/game).

Let's not forget that the Bulls did beat the Heat in all 3 meetings this year, albeit by a combined total of 8 points. Whatever you've heard of the Heat from the media who have (like the fans) been rooting for the Heat to fail/hit rough patches, forget about it. The Heat had regular season issues with the Celtics and are on the brink of eliminating them. Chicago will have its share of matchup problems with the Heat. And all that talk about a weak bench also means nothing, since starters often play 43-44 minutes of a 48 minute game. Wade and James, when playing at their best, will beat the Bulls with Rose at his best.

If, and that's a big ass IF, the Bulls can play their tenacious D they are known for, then they have a shot of winning it all. If they have to rely on Rose as much as they have, then forget about it.


(This blog is the first in a series of 6 - I will take the suggestions of my 6 subscribers and write about a topic. This suggestion - Bulls playoffs - was a topic recommended by Kevin Kirchman. If you have any special requests and you are not a subscriber, either (a) subscribe or (b) just let me know what you want me to write about).