Last night, Chicago beat Miami 106-102 WITHOUT Derrick Rose. Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless will lead you to believe that the Heat deserve a pass because they played an OT game in Orlando and then had to fly to Chicago and they were "tired and they didn't take Jon Lucas III seriously". Oh please let me grab my tissues because that was just a sad story and I feel so bad for Miami, they had it rough.
NOT, I'm calling bull on all the analysts that are hating on Chicago and their potential to beat Miami and win a Championship this year. Every team in the NBA whether it be Chicago, Miami, New Jersey or Charlotte have had to play back to back games in different cities this year with the condensed schedule but those teams didn't get passes when they lost. Okay New Jersey and Charlotte are terrible teams so they don't deserve consideration for the "free pass" title however, if it was Chicago that suffered back to back losses, nobody would have given them a break, they would have chalked up the losses to their lack of talent or some random excuse that goes back to the fact that the Bulls are not better than Miami.
So let's get to the bottom of this. The Bulls proved not only that they CAN beat Miami but they can do it as a team, something the Heat know nothing about. Chicago moved the ball around, played hardcore defense and showed how hungry they were to prove themselves. Skip and Stephen A say that the Heat didn't take Jon Lucas III seriously but if that were true, why move Lebron over to defend him? Miami intentionally put the biggest superstar in basketball against a 3rd string point guard for what purpose then? If anything Lebron defending Lucas gave JLIII more confidence because it shows how threatened the Heat were by him. James was ordered to defend Lucas to try and stop him from scoring (which James failed to do) so the Heat could have an easier time to try and come back to win the game. Deng and Korver had some great 3-pointers during the game to keep Miami at bay, Noah held his own in the middle and the guards made the plays that needed to be made to seal in the victory. More so, the Bulls proved last night that they don't need Derrick Rose for Chicago to beat Miami.
Going back to the concept of a team, Lebron and Dwayne Wade make up the majority of the points the Heat score in any game. Without them, they don't have a player they can rely on to make the big plays and score the big points. Sure scoring 30+ points a game is amazing but what is going to happen to Miami when they don't have those two scorers, we saw it last night, Chicago's bench out played Miami's bench by a drastic margin, no amount of travel excuses a bench player from being tired. I don't deny how talented the Miami Heat are but I do believe that their talent lies solely in two players whereas Chicago has talent across the board. Of course Chicago's talent isn't as visible as Miami's big two but Miami's 4 straight road losses proves that big talent isn't everything.
Bottom line, the Bulls have the depth in their bench, the talent in their starters and the hunger in their eyes to beat Miami. Don't let these "analysts" let you think otherwise. If Chicago can beat Miami without Derrick Rose, there is no excuse for it. Miami is supposed to be the most talented team, the team who is destined to win it all so we should just roll over and forgive them when they lose but when other teams lose 4 straight on the road, we have to tear them up to pieces and say they don't stand a chance.
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