NBA Eastern Conference Playoffs: Ben Wallace Trumps the Diesel

While the casual fan may be shocked by the Chicago Bulls' sweep of the defending champion Miami Heat, no one who followed the series should be surprised.

It was evident early on that the Bulls were the dominant team.  
 

Chicago's defensive game plan was to single-team Shaq in the first half and foul him only underneath the basket. After it became evident that the Heat's jump-shooters were off the mark, the Bulls became more liberal with their double-teams. And while the Diesel was only marginally hampered by Ben Wallace early in games, Big Ben's positioning, quick hands, and constant grinding effectively negated Shaq in the fourth quarter. 

Dwyane Wade, meanwhile, was forced to work for every shot. Whether it was Thabo Sefolosha, Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon, or even Luol Deng, every Bull defender assigned to Flash harassed his dribble and took away his patented spinning mid-range fallaway. 

Whenever Wade did gain a half-step, a strong-side wing or weak-side big man was swift in rotating. Wade's frustration was so great that he became uncharacteristically careless—picking up charges, throwing away passes, and in Game 4, committing more turnovers by himself than the entire Bulls roster.  

Besides Wade's breakdown, the Heat's biggest problem was their failure to find a third scoring option. Jason Williams shot 25 percent, James Posey shot 39 percent, and Eddie Jones shot 22 percent for the series.   Only the erratic Antoine Walker and Jason Kapono stepped up to hit their shots—and neither of those two had a prayer of staying in front of the speedy Bulls guards and forwards.  

On defense, the Heat couldn't contain dribble penetration and were lost on weak-side combo screens. Luol Deng's midrange jumper was automatic, Ben Gordon's ball penetrations silky smooth, and Andres Nocioni was cold-blooded from beyond the arc.

That said, it was the clich'd little things that put the Bulls over the top: The constant pressure on Williams, Wade, and Payton. The tipped-out offensive rebounds. The nonstop movement. And, perhaps most importantly of all, the intangibles brought by Ben Wallace.  

While Wallace was far from dominant in defending Shaq, his impeccable rotations, judicial fouling, intimidating help-defense, clutch rebounding, and endless hustle gave his team the extra spark they needed. In Game 4, Wallace even managed a right hook, a fast break slam, and a nifty fallaway jumper.  All in all, it may have been the finest offensive performance of his career. 

And know this about Shaq and Ben: While Shaq claims —he makes 'em when they count,— it was the Diesel who went 0-7 from the line in Game Four, and Wallace who stepped up to knock down his last seven free throws—including all four to thwart Miami's "hack-a-Ben" strategy.  

Shaq certainly talked the talk, but Wallace and the Bulls will be the ones walking on to Detroit.   

Eastern Conference Notes:  

Nets v. Raptors  

Chalk me up as another fool who forgot that finesse doesn't win in the playoffs. 

 

New Jersey has taken away the Raptors' fast break, and has played excellent defense by keeping their hands up on Toronto's shooters.   Jason Collins has shoved Chris Bosh away from the pivot, Richard Jefferson has consistently gotten to the hoop, Vince Carter has alternated horrendous games in Toronto with incredible ones in the Jersey swamp, and Jason Kidd has illuminated just how atrocious T.J. Ford and the rest of the Raptor's defenders (minus Anthony Parker) really are.  

Unless a Raptor player figures out a way to create offensively (T.J. Ford can neither shoot nor finish), Toronto is doomed.  

Cavs v. Wizards 

I'm not too concerned that Cleveland didn't dominate the Wizards like many wanted them to.  

LeBron scored, distributed, and allowed his teammates to establish offensive rhythms. Zydrunas Ilgauskus had a strong series, though it should be noted that Washington's only established frontcourt defender, Etan Thomas, was forced to help on James' penetrations.  

Cleveland didn't often double Antawn Jamison...probably because they were aware of his tendency to collapse against good teams. The Cavs didn't want any other Wizard to establish himself. While Jamison stepped up his play when the series went to Washington, the Wizards had nobody who could slow down the Cavaliers offense—hence the sweep.  

Pistons v. Magic  

Nobody really thought the Magic would give the Pistons a scare, but it was alarming how poorly Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson played.  

While Howard stepped up as a rebounder throughout the series, his offense was marred by turnovers, forced shots, and his being bullied at the hands of Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess. He was also nonexistent on defense, giving up far too many open jump shots to Wallace and Webber.  

Nelson, on the other hand, was exposed as a sparkplug backup, proving himself totally incapable of running a playoff team from the point and getting abused by Chauncey Billups on defense.  Only ever-steady Grant Hill, underrated Hedo Turkoglu, and slowly-improving Darko Milicic played up to expectations.  

As for the Cavs and Pistons: Purgatory is over. Their aspirations of ascending to basketball heaven officially start in the second round.