4/21/11: Bulls, Heat Go Up 3-0, Blazers Win At Home

The Chicago Bulls and Indiana Pacers are involved in what may become the most competitive sweep that I’ve ever seen.  Chicago eeked out another close win, 88-84, last night, making it the third of three games that has been decided by six points or less.  Indiana has had a lead in the fourth quarter of all three games, and they have out-shot the Bulls in two of three.  They are just 15 points behind the Bulls in the series, losing by an average of five per game.  Essentially, what we have witnessed in this series is a testament to the value of Derrick Rose.  There’s a reason why Chicago has come out on top in all three games, even though they’ve only out-scored the Pacers by 15 total points.  That reason is Derrick Rose–it’s really pretty basic–the dude gets the job done down the stretch, period.

D-Rose missed 14 of 18 shots last night.  He turned the ball over five times, and only had two assists.  He scored 13 of his 23 points at the freethrow line, and wasn’t able to score his first bucket until the first quarter was about to wrap up.  That certainly doesn’t sound like a great game, does it?  Absolutely not… but you know what, it really was.  He scored eight of his points in the fourth, and drove past Dahntay Jones, a very good defender, as if he was nailed to the floor for the go-ahead layup…

 

It takes a special player to make that play sitting on some 3-17 shooting and five TOs.  Most dudes are ready to play hot potato with the ball at that point, no matter how talented.  Confidence is huge in the game of basketball… without it, I don’t care what kind of skills a dude has, he’s useless.  Derrick Rose has supreme confidence, even when he’s 3-17 with 5 TOs, and that’s why Chicago has won all three of these games.  When Chicago needs a basket, Rose will go get it, and that’s why this Chicago team is frightening.  Don’t take an “Indiana is damn near beating them every night, how are they frightening?” attitude… because that’s ass-backwards.  The Pacers are playing very good basketball in this series.  Chicago has played well at times, but I feel like they’ve played below their standard at times as well… and they’re still winning the games.  Come playoff time, especially after the first round, you’re playing good teams every night.  Games are going to be close.  Derrick Rose is going to win close games for Chicago… and the only other team that has a guy who has proven to be as effective at closing games as D-Rose is the Lakers–and to be honest, Kobe hasn’t been like Rose this season at the end of games.  Rose has been on another level, and the added pressure of the postseason hasn’t changed anything.  The dude just keeps on getting it done in crunch time… every… single… game.  That’s the type of guy who’s teams will win games in the postseason.  If I’m the rest of the NBA, I’m scared sh!tless of D-Rose and his Bulls right now.  If you wanna beat ‘em, you better make sure you build a serious lead in the first three quarters, because if it’s within single digits come the fourth quarter, Chicago isn’t losing.

As for the Pacers, well, they’re battling hard, but they don’t have that player who can go get that big bucket in the final minute on a nightly basis… and it has shown.  Following that D-Rose layup, Indiana trailed by two with 17 seconds left.  Notice the discombobulation that begins at the 2:13 mark…

 

The Pace Makers couldn’t even get the ball in the paint, let alone get a good shot off.  Hell, they barely got the ball inside the three-point line.  Danny Granger was then forced to take a nearly impossible shot, and his team lost.  The last two plays you see in that video pretty much sum up this entire series, Rose’s entire season, and the difference between a contender and a pretender.

I feel ya, Danny… he’s crazy good.  Oh, I’ve got to give props to Kyle Korver, who hit a pair of big triples in the fourth.  He’s come up huge from long range in all three games.  Luol Deng also stepped up last night with 21/6/6.  Danny Granger led the Pacers with 21, and Dahntay Jones surprisingly contributed 11 off the bench after not playing in the first two games.  Vogel intelligently put his ass back on the bench after he started feeling himself a bit too much and clunked a mid-range J.

In the game I didn’t see, Miami made another move towards a sweep with a 100-94 win over the Sixers that puts them up 3-0.  LeBron James scored 24 points, grabbed 15 boards, and dished one of his six assists after putting this ridonkulous move on Jrue Holiday…

Are you kidding me?  That would’ve gotten five or six “OH BABYs” at the Rucker.  Don’t try to give me any nonsense about how he tripped, either.  He made the move, and he made the play.  This dude is 6’9 275 doing sh!t like that… not fair.  I was lucky enough to catch that play live during a commercial in the other game… it was almost good enough to make me forgive him for The Decision. Nah, not quite though.  Maybe if D-Wade had put a little more salsa on the dunk… that was kinda weak.  Anyway, D-Wade did lead the Heat with 32.  Miami made 24 freethrows compared to Philly’s 13, they out-shot ‘em from the field, and they crunched ‘em on the boards.  Miami moves on to the second round this Sunday.

Wesley Matthews came out hot and dropped 16 (finished with 25) of Portland’s first 22, propelling them to an early five-point lead.  Jason Terry would then get pretty damn hot himself, though, making 10 of 13 shots for 29 points on the night.  Nicolas Batum, who only scored seven, deserves a mention too, though.  Check out his first (and only) two field goals of the game…

The Blazers led by two possessions or more from that point until the 12 second mark, but at that point it was too late.  Andre Miller stuck a few FTs and it was game over.  The big difference in this game? Dirk only got to the line seven times.  You may recall my pissing and moaning about the foul calls in game one, which I felt weren’t going both ways, and Dirk’s 17 FTs in game two (not saying most of those weren’t justified, I didn’t have beef with the officiating in game two).  Well, surprise surprise, Dirk didn’t get all of those FTs in Portland, and he was even called for traveling on one of his patented one-footed jumpers.  I no longer feel that Portland can pull off the upset, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this still goes seven.  Home court is turning out to be huge in this series.  I’d be feeling very confident in Portland right now had they been able to pull out a game one victory.  At this point, though, I’m going to say it goes seven and no one wins on the road.

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