NBA Playoffs 2011: 5 Things the Chicago Bulls Must Do to Improve Against Hawks
The Bulls, thanks in large part to their forgotten center Joakim Noah, have evened the series at one game apiece. Not only was it a win, but it was a good one, dominant even at times.
It showcased everything that can be good about the Bulls. However, with every action comes an opposite reaction, and the Bulls surely did show the world what it is that they can do terribly wrong on a night of rights.
I won't knock a win, because a team will always tell you that they'd rather win ugly than lose pretty. However, winning ugly means that a team had every opportunity to lose equally as ugly, and often the difference often comes down to inches. On a 13 point win night, this logic even seems to apply.
Presented to you will be a list of five areas the Bulls need to improve on if they have any shot at beating the Hawks, whom now hold home-court advantage.
No. 5: Somehow Get Carlos Boozer Going on the Offense
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It's been said time and time before, and while I am not a fan of beating a dead horse with a stick, the corpse will just have to deal with it now: Carlos Boozer needs to be more involved in this offense. He needs to play better than he has been, period.
4-12 from the field for a post player? In 32 minutes of play? C'mon man.
Listen, I know he's rebounding just fine, but to say his offense is middling, would be a compliment for him right now.
He has all the talent in the world but looks like a lost dog when the ball is in his hands. Without looking at the stats sheet for a moment, I can recall four individual times when Boozer was blocked, one of them on a shotgun-range dunk that should have been powered in.
Boozer will get better; he will start to justify his major contract. I know he will. But it needs to start now.
He is getting pushed around by people who get paid an eighth of his salary. It is time for Boozer to step up and start making a plethora of better plays. Otherwise, put in Gibson, since he actually bothers to play defense.
No. 4: The Bulls Need to Start Strong and Finish Strong in the Same Game
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I don't know what it is about this Bulls roster, but almost every game they have played in the playoffs has them starting off cold and then heating up. You know what? I'm tired of that.
Sure, I love fourth quarter drama just as much as the next guy, but it is seriously becoming an issue that the Bulls need to play catch-up when they should be exclaiming for the other team to eat their proverbial dust.
While in Game 2 they indeed had a strong start and retained their lead, this was only the second time they had done so in the playoffs.
Indiana always jumped all over them, and in Game 1 of this series, the Hawks pulverized them in the beginning. Despite the Bulls taking the lead, the Hawks staged a rally and never looked back.
For the Bulls to have success against the Hawks (or any team, really), they have to put them down early.
Just look at what Joe Johnson and Carl Crawford did in the first game: 20-34 for 56 points combined. Yikes. You can't say their confidence levels weren't high because they got such a nice cushioned lead early on.
The Bulls need to derail this confidence early, like they did in Game 2. The two then went for a combined 9-25 with 27 points.
No. 3: Establish the Pick and Roll
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Rose has been terrible versus the Hawks in the pick and roll for the season. For the season, he has shot 19 percent from the field in pick and roll situations while managing to eke out six PPG versus the Hawks (courtesy of ESPN Stats and Information).
For Game 2, he was much improved, going 7-12 in pick and roll situation for 15 points and, my personal favorite, ZERO TURNOVERS.
Now, all he needs to do is keep this a consistent trend.
If there is anything working against Rose, it is that sometimes he is the Jekyll/Hyde of professional sports.
On most nights, he can dazzle with his spectacular and acrobatic finishes, while other nights (and even the same nights) he will make you fume because of poor shot selection ( I will get to this a bit later).
If Rose can simply translate this pick and roll success into the next few games, then the Bulls will have an offensive option that is tough to beat outright, especially if the pick man is a reinvigorated Carlos Boozer.
No. 2: Limit Turnovers
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Another vanilla topic. Once again, the Bulls lost the turnover battle, albeit by one mistake. But, in a game of inches, if you give the other team a mile, you might as well pack it in, and each turnover can be redeemed for roughly a kilometer of distance depending on the situation.
The Bulls once more just looked sloppy at times. Derrick Rose tripped on his own feet to give the ball to Jeff Teague for an and-one play.
Ronnie Brewer misjudged Rose's actions, so threw it out of bounds to the place where he expected Rose to be.
Boozer was blocked a bunch of times (OK, so not turnovers, but you're still giving the team an extra possession which is always unsavory). They had the ball stolen, etc. Blah blah.
The Bulls need to do something, anything, to limit their turnovers. Sure, they are a natural part of the game, but regardless, committing them in droves will help no one's cause.
The team needs to motivate themselves to do better on this end, for no amount of coaching can de-grease butterfingers.
No. 1: Their Offense
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Rose is a volume shooter during the playoffs. There is no point in even debating this. What makes matters worse is the fact that he isn't hitting more than 45 percent of his shots.
He's just chugging up force after force, and they miss time after time. I don't care about his true shooting percentage because that doesn't hide the fact that he has a poor sense of shot selection.
Carlos Boozer is missing, Kyle Korver is bricking and trying to find the prime offensive go to guy is a game of Russian Roulette, because from night to night you just don't know who has to take the fateful shot (or many fateful shots).
Yes, Rose is a closer, but not a prime offensive go to guy, at least judging by his less than stellar performances.
The Bulls focus so much on defense that it seems they have forgotten what it means to establish an offensive tempo.
The Hawks were begging the Bulls to throw them away early, but the Bulls absolutely refused their request.
The Hawks hit around 30 percent for Game 2, but the Bulls had almost the same results (sub-40 percent).
The Bulls had every opportunity to get the job done earlier, but they just pure and simply did not execute.
As good as the Bulls are, their offense is more than suspect. If they can't even break the Hawks barrier, I don't want to imagine what the Heat would to to them if the Bulls even make it to the Conference Finals.
