Right now, Chicago is in 5th place in the EC, matched up with Washington in the first round. Cleveland is in 2nd place, matched up with New Jersey. But, with the EC being screwier than the West, the Bulls are right on Cleveland's heels and could very well finish ahead of them, which would reverse their positions. How strange is it to leapfrog from 5th to 2nd by outperforming 1 team down the stretch? Who do you think will finish ahead? (Btw, with Detroit's latest loss to the Bulls, the Rockets would currently be assured homecourt advantage in the Finals.)
If the Bulls play like they are capable of they will pass the Cavs. They are a better team pure and simple. In fact, they are good enough to make the NBA Finals. I just don't want the Heat or (especially) the Pistons to come out of the East.
I don't want to see the Heat or Pistons in the Finals, either, but that doesn't mean the Bulls are good enough to make it, imo. They have a bunch of slightly better than average players who I'd love to have supporting Yao/Tracy on the Rockets, but unless Ben Gordon goes on one of his runs, they don't have a go to player who can score at will offensively to get them out of the East.
Luol Deng is a lot better than you think. Like Gordon, he is potential star material. In fact, he will end up a better player in the long run. His steady improvement from hard work has been fun to watch. He just doesn't do the spectacular offensive plays that end up on replays. I agree that the Bulls offense breaks down sometimes and it looks awful. That could be their undoing in the playoffs. On the other hand, their defense very very good. There is no team in the East they can't beat in a 7 game series.
Cleveland just beat Chicago in overtime. They're in a very similar race to ours with Utah. Looks like Cleveland has the edge here now.
Chicago is the only team in the EC that stands a chance of taking down the Heat as far as I'm concerned. Lebron will get there,but not this year.
I normally want the Cavs to win, but not against the Bulls. The usually clutch Ben Gordon broke down so many times at the end of regulation and OT I lost count. One thing he must improve at is making better decisions when teams spring a double-team on him. Today's game made me sick but I guess it doesn't really matter. The main thing is that the Bulls, Wizards or Cavs go to the Finals instead of the Pistons or Heat.
The Bulls, while they have young talented players, are just too inconsistent to make a deep run in the playoffs. And its because they don't have a true franchise go to guy, Ben Gordon is a nice player but he can't shoulder the team if the rest struggles. I'm beginning to agree with the idea that they should package one of their young stars with some other players/draft picks to get Pau Gasol or KG if it's possible in the offseason.
