Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls Fans Need to Curb Their Enthusiasm

Ladies and gentleman, prepare to read the greatest article ever written on the current Heat vs.Bulls series.

Okay, that's really not gonna happen so don't get your hopes up. Lately, though, it has become custom to blow things completely out of proportion.

From Charles Barkley saying Chicago has the greatest defense he's ever seen, to Bulls fans coming out and declaring they would dominate Miami after their Game 1 win and now Heat fans saying they are poised to win the series in five games simply because they were the superior squad for one seven-minute stretch in 140 minutes played between both teams this season?

Sitting in a South Florida sports bar watching Game 2 I could barely contain my laughter when the pro-Miami crowd broke out into an "MVP" chant. Typically I scoff sarcastically and shake my head because it is just a horrible way to cause friction between LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

This time, however, what caused me to crack up was that they were chanting it for Udonis Haslem.

Captain? Yes.

Heart and determination? Definitely.

Critical addition? Possibly.

But MVP? Seriously Miami?

Then again this is the town where Joel Anthony gets MVP chants when he gets to the charity stripe. So why not Haslem as well?

Never before has so much hype and praise been showered upon 13 points and five rebounds on 50 percent shooting in 25 minutes of play. To hear people speak of him now, one would think Haslem had comeback, led all scorers in every statistical category, then delivered the game-winning shot before being revealed as a member of Seal Team 6.

Yeah, didn't you know? Udonis was never really hurt, he just had to spend five months training for the operation. I bet no one knows where he was at 1 p.m. two Sundays ago. Coincidence? I think not.

Okay, in all seriousness, Haslem's return could be big for Miami because of what he provides as far as intensity and effort. Still, he is not a "superstar" as analyst Ken White stated.

That's the problem with this whole series. Everyone seems willing to turn every ant mound into a mountain.

I have seen U.D. play long enough to know his addition is big but it doesn't place Miami head and shoulders above Chicago.

Does Miami need him? Heck yeah. Did the Bulls get a single offensive rebound while he was in the game? Hell no.

Haslem always has the potential to give you a performance like he did in Game 2 in Chicago or Game 6 versus Dallas back in 2006. Despite that, this is the same guy that got dominated by Glen "Big Baby" Davis in last year's playoffs.

He is also coming off a long layoff and who knows how his body will respond come Games 4, 5 and beyond.

The same applies to Taj Gibson of the Bulls. He gets one highlight dunk on Dwyane Wade and it becomes this huge story the next day.

Never mind that Wade is six inches shorter, had his feet planted for a charge and was looking away, while Gibson had a running start at the basket.

Would anyone make a big deal if Wade dunked on say JJ Barea? Well that's only a 3-4 inch height discrepancy, not even near the half a foot edge Gibson had over Wade.

Despite the obvious advantages which render the dunk basically little more than expected and average, Taj went running around and celebrating as though he was about to be given Carlos Boozer's starting spot and contract.

Since then he has made about three other dunks in which he could barely get the ball in the rim but received a lucky bounce here and a Joel Anthony hand there.

So now I'm supposed to believe that Gibson owns Wade or is going to be the complimentary piece that Derrick Rose needs?

Not happening

It just became a YouTube and SportsCenter sensation, just like Haslem's dunk on Rose in Game 2. Nothing more, nothing less and to quote Hendrix "no reason to get excited."

The one thing that can't be overstated is the increase in ratings thanks to both Miami and Chicago's presence in the Eastern Conference Finals. The first two games of the series on TNT drew two of the four largest audiences for a basketball game in cable TV history.

So much for last summer's monopoly by Miami being bad for the league. It's only captivated the sports landscape spotlight like no other NBA team since the Jordan led Bulls.

To maintain that attention the Heat will have to vanquish MJ's former team and move one step closer to a title. The thing to remember, however, is not to get too carried away.

This may shape up to be a classic heavyweight title bout, it's already a history-making showdown. Don King would be envious of the ratings Miami and Chicago are pulling in. Just rest assured when the battle ends it won't be because of flavors of the week Udonis Haslem or Taj Gibson.

 At this point we can still witness an early knockout, but classics usually go the distance, let's see if this one lives up to the hype.