NBA Playoffs 2011: Chicago Bulls Loss in Game 3 is What We Can Expect

After Game 2, I wrote an article claiming that the Heat win was not a true indicator because of how historically bad the Bulls played and how many easy shots they missed. I stand by that statement. Game 3, on the other hand, showed that the Heat in fact have figured out how to beat the Bulls.

What Miami Did

The Heat figured Derrick Rose's one true weakness: he struggles against length. Most teams in the league don't have a player who have a chance to keep up with Rose as well as can wreak havoc with their length. Two of these players play for the Heat: LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

As Derrick Rose would bring the ball up the court, Miami would trap with the primary point guard defender and one of James or Wade. The double team was not a huge deal, but the length of Wade and James limited Rose's ability to pass out of the double team.

If Rose split the double team and got into the paint, the Heat would build a wall around the basket with at least two of their remaining three players. A wall would prevent Derrick Rose from getting to the basket because of the size and also led to Rose committing several offensive fouls on plays that would have been explosions to the basket against normal defenses.

What Can Chicago Do?

Unfortunately, as things are for Chicago, there is no perfect way to break this defense. The main way to beat a defense like this would be ball movement. However so far, the length of the defense has contributed to Rose turning over the ball at over two per game for the series. Another indication that Rose had trouble moving the ball is his being limited to five assists in Sunday's game.

Another player also needs to step up and take pressure off of Rose on the perimeter. An idea would be to play C.J. Watson next to Derrick Rose on the perimeter more when one of the Big Three are off the court. This would allow Rose to move the ball to another player who can drive into the line while also distributing the ball.

Doing this would allow Rose to take a few offensive possessions off while letting him be in the game to take over if need be. Eventually this issue must be addressed in the offseason but playing Watson would be a short fix.

Finally, the Bulls bigs must pass the ball at a high level. The Heat are like the Bulls: they can swarm and wreak havoc on defense. However the Heat do not have the personnel that the Bulls can run out defense like Ronnie Brewer and Taj Gibson: the Heat accomplish this with Mike Bibby and Udonis Haslem instead among others, two much less mobile players.

If the Bulls bigs can move the ball like they have shown the ability to, the Bulls frontcourt can tire out the Heat's depth quickly and increase the load on the starters. Joakim Noah's six assists during Game 3 is a good start, but Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson need to get in on the action.

The Silver Lining

Even though the Bulls have gone down in the series, there is still a lot of good that can be taken from this series.

First of all, Ronnie Brewer has been the Dwyane Wade stopper. He's held Wade per 36 minutes to 13.3 points on 33 percent shooting, 1.9 rebounds and 3.8 free throw attempts compared to 20.3 points, 46 percent shooting, 8.6 rebounds and 7.2 free throw attempts when Brewer is on the bench. The Miami Heat are going to be an elite team for at least four more years. With this being true, having a player who has neutralized one of the Heatles has been huge.

The Bulls bench bigs have also emerged as two of the most effective players in the series. Taj Gibson has managed to put up some points while playing his usual good defense. Omer Asik has emerged as one of the tougher, smarter, and bigger post defenders in the NBA this series. He has managed to protect the paint better than even Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson at times.

In fact, the lineup of Derrick Rose, Ronnie Brewer, Luol Deng, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik has managed to keep the Heat's starting lineup to only 25 percent shooting in the paint.

Conclusions

Until the fourth quarter in Game 3, the problem had not been defense, but creating offensively, and that holds true. Even though the Heat managed to win Game 3 handily, the series is far from over.

Like the Heat maintained after Game 1, each game resets, it doesn't matter how badly you lost the last game. Even though they have lost home court, the Bulls can still come back and win the series if the Coach of the Year can make the proper adjustments.

Either way, the series looks like it will be a good one.