In the first game this season the Heat beat the Bulls easily by 13 points. In the second game, the Bulls had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win, until Thabo Sefolosha threw the ball directly to Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion dunked it in for the win. In the third game, John Salmons was stripped on the final posession in double overtime, which led to a Dwyane Wade buzzer beater three. The fourth time was the charm, as the Bulls decided to just blow out the Heat this time, beating them 106 to 87.

Again, this was a nice team win. No one really had a bad game, and the Bulls are beginning to play better as a team, moving the ball much better.

I think the win really started with the great outside shooting of Kirk Hinrich and John Salmons. When these two started hitting some shots in the third, in particular Salmons, the Bulls started to pull away.

Hinrich, who started at the point guard spot for the second straight game, scored 15 points, shooting 4-7 from three. Outside of a bad first quarter on defense, Hinrich did a pretty good job guarding Wade, slowing him down a bit. Wade finished with 31 points in the game, before being pulled for garbage time.

John Salmons led the Bulls in scoring with 27 points. He did a good job driving to the hoop and scoring, and hit some big shots in the third quarter to help the Bulls pull away. This is difference between the Bulls before the trade and after the trade. Before the trade, when Gordon struggled early on, the Bulls would probably fall behind in the third, and it would take a great fourth quarter performance from Rose or Gordon to come back. Now, with another great scoring option in Salmons, they can pull away when Gordon is struggling.

The Bulls got great performances out of their young big men. Joakim Noah had 10 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Tyrus Thomas had 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Thomas was just all over the place, blocking shots, and had some thunderous dunks, the best of which came on an alley oop from Derrick Rose. The great thing about the play of these guys is that it looks like the Bulls might be able to use them as trade chips for a really good player, and if not, they might become really good players for the Bulls.

Derrick Rose came off the bench and had a calm 9 points, 7 assist, and 5 rebound performance. He is starting to pull out a lot more highlight reel passes now.

Ben Gordon struggled with his shot early, missing some wide open three point attempts. Gordon found his stroke in the fourth quarter, hitting two threes. The Heat had difficulty stopping Gordon’s drive as well. Gordon finished with 18 points in the game. He’s been struggling to get going early in games, but has come back with good second halfs of late. Before the Bulls get to the playoffs, Gordon needs to figure out how to make his shots in the first half.

The Heat had four players in double figures other than Wade. Michael Beasley had 10 points off the bench and Mario Chalmers also had 10 points. Jermaine O’neal had 12 points and Udonis Haslem added in 13 points.

Brad Miller had 12 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists off the bench.

Dwyane Wade became the first player under 6′4″ to have 100 blocks in a season.

With the win, the Bulls improve to 35-38 on the season. The Bulls have now passed the Pistons and are the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference.

Closing Comments

Good win for the Bulls tonight. I made a challenge for Del Negro after one of the Bulls embarassing losses a few weeks ago, and that was, if the bull sare under .500, even if they make the playoffs, he should be fired. He still has some work to go to get the bulls to .500, but I think he will do it. He has to go just 6-3 from here on out to make it back to .500. The next stretch of games is a perfect opportunity to do that. Their next five games are against Indiana, Toronto, indiana again, New Jersey, and New York. Actually, in the Bulls remaining 9 games, only Philadelphia has a better record than the Bulls, and the Bulls get Philly at home. The Bulls really should have a monster record down this final stretch. 6-3 should be the absolute minimum, but with most of those teams going into tank mode, and the majority of the Bulls games being at home, the Bulls could potentially win out. I don’t think they will, but it’s definitely a possibility with the easiness of their schedule. The Bulls can really make a run at that fifth seed, they’re only 3.5 games out, and they have Philly one more time this season. Atlanta is definitely a winnable series for the Bulls.

One of my favorite plays of the game was a four on one fastbreak in which Rose made a nice no look bounce pass to John Salmons who flushed it down. Yes it was a beautiful play, but what I liked even more about this play is that the Bulls had four guys running the court, beating their Heat counterparts down the floor. We have the athletes and speed to do this, so it’s nice to see them doing this.

What do I think about the Miami Heat? Outside of my guy Dwyane Wade, they’re absolute crap. Michael Beasley has a lot of skill, but he hasn’t begun to put it together on the court yet. Even if Beasley improves, they won’t be that good of a team next year. It’s for this reason why I think they will aggressively pursue Ben Gordon this offseason. They need talent there to keep Wade happy. The thing Paxson has to remember going into this offseason is that the only way that a sign and trade can be completed is if the Bulls agree to it. Don’t make that an option (okay, unless the Heat are willing to part with Wade or Beasley). If Paxson takes that option off the table, then all the Heat can offer is the MLE, which the Bulls could easily beat, with an offer such as the one they offered last summer.

Oh, and with the win, the Bulls have now strung 3 wins in a row. This is the Bulls third three game winning streak of the year. This team is truly amazing…in comparison to last year’s mess.

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Tags: Ben Gordon, Brad Miller, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Jermaine O'neal, Joakim Noah, John Salmons, Kirk Hinrich, March 2009, Mario Chalmers, Miami Heat, Michael Beasley, Tyrus Thomas, Udonis Haslem, Vinny Del Negro

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