Sports Talk with MC

by MC

Many Bulls fans were disheartened late in the regular season by the fact that their team fell to number 5 in the East at the doorstep of the postseason, hence guaranteeing them a date with both Miami and, potentially, Detroit, for rounds 1 and 2.

At least for the first game of the playoffs, Chicago fans could pretty much leave their worries at the door, based on how their squad managed to grind out a much needed “statement” victory.

Yes, the Baby Bulls beat the geriatric Heat, 96-91. What surprises emerged from Game 1? Well, there were a horrendous number of offensive fouls called, for one thing (analyst Jon Barry couldn’t keep quiet about the trigger fingers the refs seemed to have). Also, I don’t think anyone expected Swiss rookie Thabo Sefolosha to do so well on defense against Dwyane Wade. Shaquille O’Neal got in foul trouble early, and evetually fouled out, for only the second time in his playoff career. Kirk Hinrich picked up his fourth foul with over 11 minutes remaining in the 3rd salvo. Ben Wallace shot a errant jumper that, well, missed all of the rim and hit the top of the backboard.

Well, perhaps the Wallace tidbit isn’t all that surprising, but in any case, let’s move on.

Add on to all of that the fact that Dwyane Wade still isn’t 100% (he suffered a dislocated shoulder in February), and what you have is a series. Yes my friends, a series. Antoine Walker will not play messiah for the Heat. Hence, we have a competitive series on our hands.

Wade will have his moments of brilliance (he almost single handedly sparked a Heat comeback towards the end of regulation), but as I said in my post about my Eastern Conference playoff predictions, the Bulls will mostly likely give last year’s finals MVP quite a beating before it’s all said and done.

Bulls in 7, Bulls in 7.

In other news, the Nets outlasted Toronto, 96-91 (mirror image scores…whoo), and the Rockets, with a nervous Tracy McGrady and all, beat the Jazz, 84 to 75 (a low scoring game as expected).

Oh, and did I mention that Tyrus Thomas emphatically rejected two shots and was part of an exhilerating alley-oop sequence that brought the United Center crowd to it’s feet?

It was that sort of day in the Windy City.

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