Schuster: Bulls Need To Play Near Perfect To Stay Alive
Backs up against the wall, do or die and even win or go home. All the cliches apply tonight as the Bulls try and stave off elimination in their series against Miami.
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Backs up against the wall, do or die and even win or go home. All the cliches apply tonight as the Bulls try and stave off elimination in their series against Miami.
For the most part, Wednesday was an off day for the Bulls, who now trail Miami 3-1 in the Eastern Conference finals. The team gathered at their practice facility in Deerfield and had a 45-minute film session and then did some light shooting on their own.
Just like they have all season, with the game on the line, the Chicago Bulls turned to Derrick Rose to get he job done. However, unlike he had up to this point, Rose wasn't able to carry the Bulls to to victory.
In their biggest game of the season, the Chicago Bulls had a chance to end the game in regulation. And in that situation, there was only one person head coach Tom Thibodeau wanted taking that final shot.
Tuesday night marked the first time that the Bulls have lost three games in a row all year. It was a "back against the wall" game and the Bulls failed. It wasn't because of a lack of effort or a lack of heart. Miami's talent/size combination has been too much to overcome.
Without facing elimination, Game 4 was about as close to a must-win game for the Chicago Bulls as you can get. Trailing 2-1 in the series, the Bulls could either come home tied or facing elimination.
The Bulls led after the first, second and third quarters. They also had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation but just like in the last two games they couldn't come through in the clutch and now face elimination.
At the end of four quarters, the Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat found themselves right where they started the game, all tied up.
Heading into Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau will be faced with some tough lineup decisions. The Bulls have a roster filled with players either talented offensively or defensively, but few who are both.
The Bulls appeared confident when we spoke to them Tuesday morning in the locker room. They said they think they have solved Miami's suffocating defense, but obviously we won't know that until Tuesday night.
At their most critical point of the season, the Chicago Bulls are faced with some distractions.
With the Heat holding a 2-1 advantage in the Eastern Conference finals it feels like Miami has the confidence and momentum to win the series, but if the Bulls are victorious in Game 4, the series will shift in their favor heading back to Chicago.
The Eastern Conference finals couldn't have gotten off to a better start for the Chicago Bulls, a 21-point rout gave Chicago a 1-0 series lead. But since that point, everything has gone the way of the Miami Heat.
Derrick Rose was named the youngest MVP in league history after averaging 25 points per game in the regular season. He's further proved he deserves the award by averaging 27.6 points per game in the postseason.
For the second time in less then 12 hours, Joakim Noah apologized for his actions from Sunday night. TV cameras and microphones picked up Noah hurling a gay slur towards a fan in the first quarter.
Back in 1998, I was naïve. But here in 2011? Well, I'm not. At least that's certainly true when it comes to the issue of athletes using performance enhancing drugs to give themselves an edge on the field.
After falling to the Heat in Game 3 of the conference finals, the Bulls trail in the postseason for only the second time. With one more game in Miami before returning to Chicago, the Bulls need to make adjustments if they don't want to return home facing elimination.
Just not good enough. That's the perfect way to describe what happened to the Bulls on Sunday night. The final score was Heat 96 and Bulls 85 and all the team's weaknesses are starting to get exposed.
For the third straight game, the outcome of an Eastern Conference finals game was decided by a second half run, and once again it as the Heat who pulled away and beat the Bulls.
Dwyane Wade's right arm had a nasty gash that left him unwilling to shoot the ball for Miami down the stretch.
Make no mistake about it, Game 3 in this Bulls-Miami series is crucial for both teams. The Heat want to win to maintain their momentum and keep home court advantage and the Bulls want to re-establish themselves after playing a poor ggame on Wednesday night
There was a huge difference for the Chicago Bulls between the first two games of the Eastern Conference finals, and not just in the end result.
The Chicago Bulls didn't need to see Taj Gibson dunk on Dwyane Wade in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals or try to carry them late in Game 2.
The Chicago Bulls lost Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals by 10 points. But wen you look at the numbers, the Bulls really cold have been blown out by the Miami Heat.
The Bulls lost Game 2 of the conference finals by 10 points. But considering that the Bulls shot 34.1 percent from the floor, 15 percent from the three-point line and 61.5 percent from the free throw line, there's two ways to credit the outcome of the game.
