2011 ECF: (1) Bulls vs. (2) Heat

[shadowgrin]

Hey, I'm just sayin' (quotin'). For someone who doesn't mind being proven wrong, you sure are butt hurt by it whenever that happens.
Besides, I'm not the proclaimed Heat 'fan' who tells people that a dependable team veteran who just came back from an injury and had a bad outing for one game in the series shouldn't be trusted anymore.

[Martti.]

Many said the Heat need Ilgauskas, all he does is shoot 19-foot jumpers and tip some offensive boards, he won't get a lot of boards against Noah and Boozer because he's the slowest player I have seen in a long time. Dampier and Magloire are basically the same, both commit a lot of unnecessary fouls. So basically it doesn't matter if Dampier or Ilgauskas are active, Magloire can fill those minutes just as well.

[puttincomputers]

that was a turrible non call on James. But it came out all right. He missed the shot. Ball don't lie.

[atlwarrior]

Many said the Heat need Ilgauskas, all he does is shoot 19-foot jumpers and tip some offensive boards, he won't get a lot of boards against Noah and Boozer because he's the slowest player I have seen in a long time. Dampier and Magloire are basically the same, both commit a lot of unnecessary fouls. So basically it doesn't matter if Dampier or Ilgauskas are active, Magloire can fill those minutes just as well.

I remember Big Z in his early Cleveland days. Back then he could somewhat run the floor for a 7 footer and then he started having those foot inuries and everything went down from there. He is a 2x all-star but if it weren't for the injuries early in his career he could've been more than just that.

[C-77]

Daaaamn Haslem! Nice dunk!
And a nice euro step by Wade

LeBron's killer three step is still better than Wade's two step(euro step)

[NovU]

Many said the Heat need Ilgauskas, all he does is shoot 19-foot jumpers and tip some offensive boards, he won't get a lot of boards against Noah and Boozer because he's the slowest player I have seen in a long time. Dampier and Magloire are basically the same, both commit a lot of unnecessary fouls. So basically it doesn't matter if Dampier or Ilgauskas are active, Magloire can fill those minutes just as well.

Many said it because nobody else was clearly the better. At least he and Damp were used to the starting role while the Heat were winning. There wasn't much need to jeopardize already built chemistry since you just shouldn't try to figure out all of sudden who plays or not during the playoffs. Spoeltra had 82 games to figure it out but couldn't, so many guessed Ilgua or Damp was as good as it gets at that position. It's not like anyone was loving the way Ilguaskas or Dampier was playing. The heck, even Joel looked awful when he was starting during the season. We simply had no better option. Magloire and Haslem? They rarely played this season but playing them suddenly in the biggest stage ECF? No surprise fans were skeptical. That's why I am giving credits to Spoeltra now for taking chances at this time of the year. Mainly because it seems to have paid off, at least for now that is...

[rise]

Haslem played pretty nicely yesterday, had a pair of pretty cool dunks. He had 13 points, 5 rebounds if I'm not mistaken. He looked good.

[atlwarrior]

For some reason I'm not too worried. The Bulls will learn from last game and take homecourt advantage back in game 3. D-Rose will not have too many more nights like that. They just need to bring the same defensive pressure and energy they did in game 1.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I don't think the Bulls need to make too many adjustments. The effort was there defensively and on the boards, they held Miami under 90 points and while they shot poorly, they did miss on a lot of good looks and easy ones around the rim so it wasn't like they were taking bad shots. If they were knocking down some of those shots and more of their free throws, that's a game they could've won. However, in that respect I am a little concerned because they are a team that can go cold and struggle to put the ball in the basket. If they're on target though, the series is very winnable.

[Moz]

Boozer needs to get more involved offensively ... it seems he's hesitant to take it whenever he got the ball... they need a post scorer since Rose' kamikaze drives aren't that effective all the time. If he can't do it, give Gibson more minutes..

[Andrew]

He had ten (official) attempts in Game 2 and a decent amount of touches, I imagine he'd have had some more if Thibodeau hadn't gone with Gibson for his defense in the fourth quarter. Like pretty much every other Bull in Game 2 though, he just wasn't knocking them down.

[NovU]

Game 3 tomorrow. Hate the multiple days gap between the games. Shoulda played today.

[Jhiane]

I'll go for the Heat because of Eric Spoelstra's Filipino-American citizenship I'd say Heat on 6

[benji]

And Jae becomes a Bulls fan.

[Moz]

Damn it Asik stay on the ground....

[Jhiane]

this will be Bosh's game

[rise]

The Greatness has 5 blocks at halftime!

this will be Bosh's game

16 points is good, but he only has ONE rebound. Seriously, I think LeBron and Bosh should switch roles. At least LeBron's got 5/6 rebounds.

[Jhiane]

defensively not but offensively yes

[Andrew]

Officiating has been pretty poor once again. Bulls need to shoot a lot better in the fourth though if they want to win this one. Bosh having another great game for the Heat.

[atlwarrior]

Did you all see that weird thing Bosh did before the commercial break? He was like licking his lips in a very slow motion. Idk who he did it to but it looked very

[Andrew]

Wow...not sure if I can finish this one out. The soft shooting foul calls in favour of the Heat, the ridiculous offensive fouls being called on the Bulls...absolutely disgraceful.

[Drex]

Definitely a lot of home-cooking tonight.

[Andrew]

"Steve Javie, Mike Callahan and Ron Garretson...name three people who should never referee an NBA game again."

Seriously though, I know it's hard for me to be objective here but there were some downright awful calls in this one. The Bulls were getting hacked up inside with nothing being called while the Heat were getting some very generous fouls at the other end, very inconsistent calls on offensive and loose ball fouls (including one ridiculously blatant flop by LeBron). It's disappointing, if ever there's a time for the right calls to be made and the game to be called down the middle, it's in the Playoffs.

That said, Bosh was just killing the Bulls with that midrange jumpshot. Chicago shot a little better in this one but didn't move the ball particularly well which the Heat did and they shot 50% from the field compared to just under 42% by the Bulls. A lot of easy ones missed around the hoop for the Bulls - some of which should have been fouls but still, got to knock them down - which just added to their misery. Now it becomes an uphill battle.

[Jhiane]

what happened on last 50seconds left? I don't understand what call has made

[Andrew]

Foul before the inbound.