D For Disappointment
By Michael Gresham
TalkBulls.com

As any elementary school kid could tell you, you can’t spell “Bulls” with a D. Unfortunately for the Chicago Bulls, they managed to leave their D behind for the first two games of their opening playoff series with the Miami Heat.

If one had to pick a theme for the 2005-06 Bulls it would have to be their suffocated defense that they played. For the second straight season the Scott Skiles-led bunch was atop the NBA is field goal percentage again, stifling the opposing teams into bad shots and turnovers with regularity. For some reason, this series against Miami has been a complete 180 degree turnaround for the Bulls.

The big area of disappointment during the first two games in Miami has been the guard play of the big three in Kirk Hinrich, Chris Duhon and Ben Gordon. On the season they did a remarkable job of matching up with usually bigger guards, and keeping them below their typical output. In the two games thus far against the Heat, the guards have been a disappointment so far, allowing guards such as Jason Williams to come off of the bench and get wide open looks from deep, repeatedly putting daggers into attempted rallies, and turning the ball over in key situations.

Particularly Kirk Hinrich has struggled this series, making key turnovers, and really pressing to do too much in critical situations. One of the most common mistakes Hinrich has made multiple times in this series is getting up in the air with the ball, and not having a plan as to what to do with it. This has resulted in balls being stolen, shots being forced, and very few positive results.

The situation in the middle of the floor has not been positive either, but that was to be expected. Shaquille O’Neal has just owned the Bulls this series, looking five years younger than he has all season, repeated establishing low-post position on the blocks against the Bulls smaller and weaker defenders, and either creating quality shots, drawing a foul, or making the smart kick out to an open shooter.

O’Neal’s dominance has not surprised many, as the Bulls have been known as small and weak up front all season, but what the Bulls uncharacteristically have not been able to do is shut down the role players of the Heat. Jason Williams has twice had hot shooting performances, hitting for 17 first half points, and a team-leading 22 for game two. Antoine Walker played huge minutes for the suspended Udonis Haslem, dropping 17 points and 10 rebounds on the Bulls yesterday. James Posey came off of the bench to hit a few key threes, putting nails into the Bulls coffin for two consecutive games.

The final cause for worry as the Bulls head back to Chicago down 0-2, is the way that they have been finishing out quarters and halves. Except for the fourth quarters of each game, the Heat have put quick scoring spurts on the Bulls, making close games a little more out of reach. A perfect example of this is the end of the first half of Game two. In a four-second span, the Bulls allowed Jason Williams to drive coast-to-coast for an uncontested lay-up, followed by Michael Sweetney making a lazy in-bounds pass which was stolen and dunked by Dwayne Wade at the buzzer. Instead of a seven-point halftime deficit, the Bulls went into the locker room down by 11. Most of these lapses have been purely mental, which must have Scott Skiles pulling out what remains of his hair.

We can only hope that the home cooking of Chicago will manage to get the Bulls back to the team that we all watched all year long. One thing is for sure, they will not win any games against the Heat if they continue to let the secondary players of Miami pile up key baskets, while still allowing the Heat’s stars to put up big games as well. The Bulls have to get back to the pressure defense that they used successfully during the season to keep the ball out of the hands of the opponent’s stars, and force them into bad shots if they did manage to get the ball. This series is still salvageable for a Bulls team who has played its best basketball when its backs were against the wall. Don’t forget the Bulls were 29-39 not too long ago, and staring another trip to the lottery in their face. Instead the Bulls became the hottest team in the league, winning 12 of 14 games, and streaking into the playoffs. The fact of the matter is that the Bulls must remember to put the D back into Bulls.

hmm Chicago Bullsd, I dont get it

Good article although I could have told everyone this too, our defense is terrible you have to expect that against a superstart like shaq and wade, the heat are loaded and have good depth, their bench has been playin just as good as their starters.

oops should have been more specific, i meant in the playoffs alone

K, definitely can't argue with that

The difference in tonights game?

D

Our Defense will strugle while facing a guy like Shaq... we have no one that has the body to defend him... Maybe Luke, but he is a rookie.... We need to Double on Shaq and that just messes up our whole Defense.... thats the problem...