NBA News: Bulls and Heat are Even

Last nights game looked like two heavy weight boxers just pounding on each other for twelve rounds until one of them just drop like a sack of potatoes or yell out "no mas". Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals between the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls was just that.......In game 1 the Bulls went for the furious knockout to go up 1-0 in the series, but it was the Heat that came back in game 2 to go for the late shot that put Chicago down for the night. You can thank Lebron James for that. As much as it burns my blood to say it but I have to give "King James" credit for finishing down the stretch to beat the Bulls 85-75 and even the series at 1-1. James did it all in the 4th, scoring, defending, facilitating to put this game in the bag. It was almost like a certain someone who used to do it on a regular basis in the United Center......anyway........One thing that was evident was the defensive battle between these two teams. Chicago and Miami are ranked one and two in the league defensively and it was very apparent in this game that neither of them was going to budge. There were stretches in the third and fourth quarter that neither team couldn't find the basket. In the third quarter there was a seven minute window where Lebron, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh didn't make a basket. Both defenses were very stingy, but you can see that the Heat had an extra pep in their step.

James finished with 29-points, Dwayne Wade added 24 and unlike his game 1 performance where he put up 30, Chris Bosh only had 10. As much as I didn't want to do this but were the referees drinking before the game started. The foolish foul calls that they were calling on the Bulls just took their spirit. You can see they were letting the Heat get away with murder with the muggings under the basket. It got to the point where the Bulls were begging for calls and in turn if they even breathed on one of the Heat players the whistle was going off. The TNT broadcasting team of Marv Albert, Reggie Miller and Steve Kerr who were calling the game acknowledged it several times what is with the bad calls. I don't want to stoop to the level that the refs really effected the outcome of the game but every time the Bulls wanted to take hold of it some stupid call was made. You can see at times the Bulls had to pull back on their defense in fear that the ref would blow the whistle, giving the Heat opportunities to the basket especially in transition. The Bulls have to take some blame for the loss, because their offense at times was stagnant.

Chicago missed numerous layups and got out shot 47.1 percent to 34.1 percent. The Bulls were just 3 of 20 on 3-pointers and 16 of 26 at the foul line while getting beat on the boards. The league MVP Derrick Rose was not himself last night. He scored 21 points on 7-for-23 shooting but looked like he was out of sorts. The Heat's defense was frustrating but Rose didn't looked focus at all. He wasn't sharp and there was one point he was shooting air balls even at the free throw line. Rose looked mentally and physically spent which was not good for the Bulls. Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng and Kyle Korver couldn't provide much offense either they were kind of dead in the water as well. Boozer and Joakim Noah let the refs get inside their heads because they had no hustle whatsoever which killed their second chance points. Taj Gibson tried to spur the crowd with his energy like he did in his game one performance, the only problem is where was the rest of the team. Rookie center Omer Asik gave him a hand, but got bloodied when he was blocking one of Dwayne Wade's drives to the basket. Talk about a fight, Wade was bloodied up too on that collision, the only thing is he came back Omer didn't......Lebron wasn't the only one who did the Bulls dirty, surprise, surprise Udonis Haslem who hasn't played in months came off the bench to spur the Heat. Haslem who was recovering from foot surgery back in November came in the third quarter and tore up the Bulls inside and out. With 13-points and 5 rebounds, Haslem looked like he was itching for a fight and to get back out there after a long layoff.

I can't single out the refs like that, they are a necessary evil and this is something that goes on in all games, so to blame them is a waste of breath. The Bulls played sloppy down the stretch and didn't have the energy they had in game 1. In the first half the Bulls looked like they withstood the eventual fury that the Heat were going to bring upon them, but it was like Chicago was toying with the Heat to only give up at the end and let Lebron James finish them off. Game 3 is in Miami Sunday night.......nuff said

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