2011 Eastern Conference Finals: Bulls and Heat Battle to Be the Best in the East
The matchup is set to decide this year’s Eastern Conference champion and it will feature the MVPs from the past two seasons. Derrick Rose and LeBron James have taken very different paths to get to the Eastern Conference Finals but both are determined to lead their teams to the NBA Finals.
Last offseason there was a chance that James and Rose would be teammates on the Bulls but now they will face off for a chance to take on the best the Western Conference has to offer. Despite not having LeBron on their roster, Chicago had the best record in the East during the regular season and did so with their stellar team defense.
It was this tenacious defense, along with Rose’s offensive ability, that enabled them to defeat the Atlanta Hawks in six games. The Hawks did not let the Heat walk all over them by any means; they stole Game 1 from the Bulls in Chicago and looked poised to shock the world and upset the East’s number one seed. That sentiment didn’t last long. The Hawks could never totally find their stroke, failing to score more than 20 points in 10 out of 24 quarters in the series.
This year’s MVP, Derrick Rose, had an MVP-like series leading Chicago in points and assists. A promising sign for Bulls fans was the late emergence of Carlos Boozer who had a team high 23 points and 10 rebounds in Game 6 to close out the series. If Chicago is going to continue their spectacular season and beat Miami they will need guys like Boozer, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah to step up and help Rose carry the scoring load.
LeBron James and Chris Bosh “took their talents to South Beach” for situations exactly like this; they want to play for championships and win them. Following the Heat’s Game 5 victory over the Boston Celtics, James expressed his elation in defeating the team that he never could during his time in Cleveland. Plain and simple, LeBron couldn’t do it alone and now he has Bosh and Dwyane Wade as his sidekicks creating the New Big 3: 2011 Edition.
The Celtic’s trio formerly known as the Big 3 showed their age against the Heat as they could not keep pace with their high-octane attack. Miami won the series over Boston on both ends of the court with their shut-down defense and their powerful yet speedy offense. Rajon Rondo is now clearly the best player on the Celtics and many NBA fans are left wondering if the current group of Celtics has anything left in the tank.
With the future of the Celtics uncertain, it is clear that there is a new team ready to take hold of the East and we will find out which this week. Because of the way the Heat dominated the Celtics many believe they are clicking at the right time and can’t be stopped by anyone. Not even the league’s MVP who has beaten Miami all three times they faced each other this season.
Everyone knows who the superstars in this series are and they are the main reason people will tune in to watch. But it isn’t going to be the best player that wins the series, it is going to be the best team. Both teams are arguably playing their best basketball of the season right now so it is really anyone’s series. Regardless of how well they’re playing now, only one team will get a shot at the title while the other has to wait for next year.
