Miami Meltdown by Michael Gresham

The average temperature in April in Miami is a balmy 75.2 degrees without the ever present humidity factored in. In Chicago, where the Bulls and Heat returned for Game 3 of the first round of the NBA playoffs, it is only a paltry 48.2 degrees. None of that seemed to matter as the Bulls turned up the heat on Miami, and welcomed them to Chicago by inducing a meltdown.

The big story of the game should have been the complete neutering of the premier NBA center of our generation Shaquille O’Neal. Not only did he have a career worst playoff game going until he picked up 6 points in garbage time, but the Bulls did the biggest favor possible for themselves, by attacking the once spry defender and piling up the fouls on him, seating the 340 pound force on the bench for long stretches of the game. Meanwhile this left the middle of the floor wide open for the Bulls guard trio to operate with impunity going to the basket and creating havoc in the middle of the floor. Midway through the 4th quarter Shaqs stat line read like this. 2 points, 3 rebounds, 7 turnovers, 5 fouls.

Kirk Hinrich really stepped up the largest for the Bulls, making it a point to attack the middle of the floor early, racking up 7 assists in the first half by just abusing Dwayne Wade off of the dribble. Hinrich learned his lesson about getting in the air against the taller and longer Wade, and instead made it a point to put his head down and trying to get to the rim. The success was evident early, both through the assists, and through the foul trouble of the Heat’s front line.

Unfortunately the big media story of the day is the Miami meltdown near the end of the game. James Posey upset he didn’t get a call on the offensive end of the floor, ran down almost the length of the floor and put a hit on Kirk Hinrich that would make Brian Urlacher proud. Instead of grabbing Kirk and fouling him, he lowered his shoulder and ran through Kirk putting him hard to the court. The Bulls teammates immediately jumped in and smartly prevented any punches from being thrown. Posey was immediately ejected and assessed with a flagrant two foul. On the play immediately follow that one, Antoine Walker also received a technical foul for yelling at the refs, followed up by Udonis Haslem also drawing a technical before play could restart again. At that point Pat Riley emptied his bench and began the 100 yard stare in utter disbelief at the critical mass his team was committing.

What will be interesting is to see if Riley can clear his team’s mind by tip off Sunday, and get them back to the confident bunch we saw in Miami, instead of the tired whiney bunch we saw in Chicago on Thursday. The predicted high is only about 60 degrees for the noon tip-off, but if the Bulls keep putting the pressure on Miami, it might be enough to keep the Heat melting before our very eyes.