2011 NBA Playoffs: Bulls vs. Heat Gamechanging Storylines

The No. 1 seed Chicago Bulls defeated the Atlanta Hawks in impressive fashion last night, 93-73. They will meet the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference championship on Sunday evening.

The Heat defeated the Boston Celtics Wednesday in five games. The current general consensus is leaning towards the Heat representing the East in the NBA Finals after their defeat of the defending conference champs. For some reason, the public feel the Bulls have played poorly and the Heat have been great, regardless of the Bulls losing just one more game.

If you add in taking out the opponents best player, (Rajon Rondo) the Heat could be playing Game 7 against Boston this weekend instead of waiting.

All we can do now is speculate, for the teams are set, but who will attempt to stop who?

First, let's start inside. The Bulls have the clear advantage at both inside defense and offense.

Joakim Noah was named to the All-Defense second team, despite missing significant time during the regular season. He will be occupied with Heat forward Chris Bosh. Noah struggles with over sized, strong big men. Bosh is obviously not strong nor is he over sized. He settled for mid range jump shots in the team's previous meetings with very limited success.

The other matchup will feature Joel Anthony on Carlos Boozer. Boozer hasn't done much other than cheerlead and get Josh Smith to remind everyone of his gender and who is most important.

If the Bulls plan on winning they will need Boozer to at least act like an offensive option. Boozer of course feels defense is optional, lucky for him Joel Anthony is non-existant on the offensive end. He will pass up open layups if he sees Lebron James or Dwyane Wade looking for the ball. I think Anthony and Boozer will basically be a wash, who would have believed that statement at the beginning of the reason right?

If the Bulls can get a solid 10 points a game from Noah and keep Bosh to settling for bad jumpers, the Bulls will be in great shape.

Now we move to the wings, the most important match ups of the series. Who is going to stop Wade and James?

Luol Deng has played great defense for the Bulls all season, but he's played 40 minutes a game since the playoffs started and has taken numerous hard falls. They look, especially in the last game, like they are starting to take a toll on him. Will he be able to stick with James enough to keep him from getting the Bulls bigs in foul trouble early? Doubtful.

The Bulls have such defensive depth at the two guard, with Ronnie Brewer and Keith Bogans both receiving votes for defensive MVP, they will have no problem with having capable bodies to throw at Wade. I'm sure Wade will still get his points, but how efficiently?

The big problem is the Bulls don't get any offense out of that spot. If Wade doesn't have to stay honest on defense and the Bulls allow him to get into the passing lanes he can create easy fast break scores allowing the Heat to win this series with ease.

Finally, the least appealing match up for the Heat. Who will guard NBA MVP Derrick Rose?

Mario Chalmers? Mike Bibby? Wade struggled with Ray Allen and clearly doesn't have the ability to keep up with him unless he takes him out. Lebron James also has proven he doesn't have the quickness to stay with the top point guards defensively. It's highly unlikely the Bulls will give Rose a difficult defensive assignment to conserve his energy.

Coach Thibodeau will simply ask him to watch Bibby and Chalmers wander around and get some easy fast breaks started.

Do the Heat just let Rose have whatever he wants and make the rest of the Bulls beat them? If I were a coach, I'd clog the paint and guard the shooters, make Rose knock down shots and trust his teammates.

I doubt the Bulls win four games that way. They need James and Wade to attack the hoop, draw fouls, and get Noah and Boozer on the bench with foul trouble. At the very least kick out to James Jones who can be amazing from three point range.

If they don't get Jones involved, he's been known to disappear for entire games.

The Bulls need to employ roughly the same strategy: Make James and Wade shoot, since they are statistically worse shooters than Rose. Attack the rim, make free throws and get Kyle Korver involved early.

My gut at the beginning of the playoffs told me the Bulls would come out of the East with some ease, but the Heat have me a little worried.

With the homecourt advantage, where the Bulls are 36-5 on the year, I still say Bulls will advance, but it could take seven games to decide.