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The Cavs vs Bulls Series

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anyway I dont want bulls in round one.
 
That Orlando series we lost taught me not to discount a team like the Hawks and assume they will fold.

The Hawks shoot the ball well, play team ball, defend like crazy and are efficient offensively.

I think the Cavs would probably pull it out, but I am long past the point of dismissing a team like that.
 
It won't happen unless they collapse.
 
I'm pretty confused by the Bulls. So inconsistent the past weeks. Big win one night, let down loss the next night. Beating top teams, losing to teams they should beat. They have beaten some great teams and lost to the Lakers and Orlando in the same stretch. I guess the main reason for their inconsistency is that their defense is just not solid top-to-bottom as it used to be. Sometimes they look really tough when it counts. Other times, they just look out-of-sync. I know they've had injuries but they just don't look right as a group.

I enjoyed how they gave up 120+ to the Lakers in double-OT tonight, thinking the extra minutes would set them up for disaster against Phoenix on the back-to-back tomorrow night. But right now they're too hard to predict.
 
Is anyone afraid of the Bulls at this point anymore?

Derrick Rose doesn't look like he will ever be what he once was. I think the Hawks might be more dangerous then the Bulls.
 
With Rose, it seems like you just need to force him to be a jump shooter and hope that his shot is off. I do not see him getting into the lane consistently with defensive pressure in addition to a rim protector.
 
Rondo said:
Is anyone afraid of the Bulls at this point anymore?

Derrick Rose doesn't look like he will ever be what he once was. I think the Hawks might be more dangerous then the Bulls.
Click to expand...

I'm not.

I mean, he's still Derrick Rose, and he can still go off on any given night, but he just doesn't have that explosiveness anymore. He seems tentative. Afraid, even.

That being said, I'm just not sold on this Hawks team. I'd still take the Bulls in a postseason matchup between the two. I'd much rather face Horford/Millsap/Korver than Noah/Gasol/Butler. Noah is a consistent triple double threat, Gasol is having one of the finest seasons of his career at age 34, and Butler's having one hell of a coming out party.

Barring injury, I'd be very surprised if the Bulls don't make it to the conference finals this season.

And to be clear, I'm not discrediting the Hawks at all. They're currently on one of the hottest streaks in league history and could very easily ride that hotness throughout the playoffs, but I just don't see it happening. Then again, I don't think the Raptors or Wizards are legitimate contenders, either, although I do think they're very good teams in their own right and they are each having as good as, if not better seasons than anyone expected them to have.
 
Wizards worry me a little bit. Toronto as well. Nobody else does.
 
The Bulls are having a problem with the players seeing what Pops does with his team and them wanting that. They need to realize they are a team that when its all said and done hasn't done shit. I remember the championship years when the Bulls would just roll through teams of the current day Lakers ilk and no one would play the 4th quarter. Take care of business early in the game and you rest a majority of the 2nd half. Instead the Bulls are having to try to grind their way back into games against crappy teams when players should be sitting down joking around. Its frustrating to watch.

Bulls went from a team that creates with ball movement to a team that relies too much on isolation. They dump the ball down to Pau when they should be running pick and pop with him. Instead they run pick and pop with Noah. Jimmy Butler goes stretches without seeing the ball cause DRose dominates it.

DRose killed his shot by trying to refine it during his time off. His form is so different than what it was pre injury. He has some hitch in it that is very noticeable. He still wants to try and dominate the game when he doesn't have to. If he isn't guarding Kyrie, Curry, Paul, Deron, Lillard he doesn't try as hard on defense and its a huge problem that leads to these poor performances against not so great teams. Jeremy Lin was blowing past him all day.

So far based on their performance they seem to be suffering from overconfidence which is not a likable trait.
 
On another note I am glad DRose didn't make the all star team. I am sure his dumbass brothers and management thought he could do no wrong. At the beginning of the year I thought there was no way he would not get voted in. Glad the right players are getting rewarded.
 
Marcus said:
Stat of the night:

Cleveland (99.1) is now giving up less points per game than Chicago (99.9).
Click to expand...
But somehow scoring slightly less than the Bulls.

I guess that's what Pao Gasol does to a team.

Giveth and taketh away.
 
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