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Aching Knee Puts Limp In Wade’s Playoff Run

May 14, 2013  ·  7:54PM

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MIAMI – Never let ‘em see you wince.

That has been Dwyane Wade‘s mostly successful approach since suffering a deep bone bruise to his right knee against Orlando in early March. Heck, that has been Wade’s approach more or less since he reached the NBA and got busy with that fall-down-578-times, get-up-579 business.

The Miami Heat star shooting guard has had good days and bad days since initially injuring the knee. He has aggravated it, pampered it, fought it, ignored it and, through Miami’s first eight games this postseason, made peace with it. It’s not getting noticeably better, it’s not forcing him to miss significant time in the Heat’s quest to repeat as NBA champions. Stalemate.

Until the second quarter of Game 4 against the Chicago Bulls Monday night at United Center, anyway. When Bulls defender Jimmy Butler banged knees with Wade, Miami’s guy lost in the collision. The pain showed on Wade’s face and he quickly subbed out, getting some treatment and a fresh taping on the Heat bench. He returned and scored six points in the third quarter – but they were his only points of the night and Wade played just 2:39 in the fourth, compared to LeBron James‘ nine minutes and Chris Bosh‘s six down the stretch of the blowout victory.

After Wade’s 10-point performance on 5-of-7 shooting in Game 3, he and coach Erik Spoelstra reminded reporters of Wade’s adjustment and growing deference to James over the past three years. It wasn’t exactly a cover story but it was a diversion, a tale of teamwork and chemistry fit for a two-day break between games.

But after Wade’s 3-of-10 effort in Game 4, a tale of noble motives gives way to the urgency of  his injury, his prognosis and timeline for healing and his availability not just for what’s left of this series – the Heat lead the Eastern Conference semifinals, 3-1, with Game 5 Wednesday at AmericanAirlines Arena – but what’s left of Miami’s title defense.

Spoelstra got defensive on behalf of his star and friend when talking with reporters, as chronicled by the Sun Sentinel’s Shandel Richardson:

“He’s helping us win right now,” Spoelstra said Tuesday. “OK. One of these days boxscores will have your plus-minus impact and maybe eventually people will start to look at a boxscore differently and eventually a new generation of fans, the media, staff will see that’s the most important one and he’s having that impact.”

The Heat have lost just once in the playoffs despite Wade averaging only 12.3 points, nearly nine below his season average. After Monday’s six-point effort against the Bulls, he is averaging 11.3 points in the series.

Wade, 31, ranks fourth in scoring for Miami this postseason and isn’t even the top scoring Marquette product in the series (Butler, 23, is averaging 12.8 for Chicago). But that’s the sort of comparative stuff that rankles Spoelstra.

“I understand the interest level in it, but what you dislike about team sports is people lose sight of the main thing being the main thing,” Spoelstra said. “Dwyane’s proven himself as a warrior, he’s helping us win and at the end of the day we’re up 3-1 with a chance to close out. We knew going into this series that it wasn’t going to be about averages and that was one thing we had to have a discussion about before the series.”

Wade is considered day-to-day, though a guess at his status for Game 4 might be possible, based on the previous round. The Heat were comfortably in control through three games against Milwaukee, so Wade sat out the finale of that sweep. As undermanned and overtaxed as the Bulls are, skipping Wednesday’s game could be the smart option, allowing maximum treatment time before Miami faces the eventual winner of the New York-Indiana series in the East finals.

It’s not as if Wade hasn’t missed time with injuries previously or that the Heat struggle in his absence (they were 12-2 this season when he did not play). Even if his knee doesn’t heal completely in the coming weeks, he’ll do what he can to play through it.

The Bulls, however, don’t have enough firepower or depth to make a diminished Wade a serious problem. That might change in the next round or in The Finals. Also, nagging injuries can sometimes lead to the same outcome as debilitating ones, as James talked about after Game 4 Monday. Remember his aching right elbow and how much attention that got in his final playoff run with Cleveland?

“It lingered throughout the whole playoffs,” James said. “You just try to go out there and give it all you got. It sucks because you know you can do things that the injury isn’t allowing you to do it.

“I know what he’s going through.”

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls, 2013 NBA Playoffs / Comments (98) /

Miami’s Most Important Player? It’s Bosh

May 14, 2013  ·  9:28AM



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HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – LeBron James spent the better part of the past four days making headlines for “flopping”, according to Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. Dwyane Wayne‘s curious wardrobe choices are more interesting than anything he’s contributing on the court right now, what with that nagging bone bruise in his right knee slowing him down.

And then there’s Chris Bosh, the man who Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra insists has been his team’s most important player for quite some time. Yeah, Spoelstra’s right. Bosh might not look like the stand-alone star he was in Toronto, but he has become the Heat’s X-factor. His nightly performance often pushes them over the top and allows the Heat to “play our game,” as the coach explained earlier in this postseason when he was trying to describe Bosh’s role in Miami.

LeBron is a machine who gives the Heat everything you’d expect a four-time MVP to give in the playoffs. And no one is suggesting that Bosh is challenging LeBron as the Heat’s most valuable player. But Bosh’s steady presence at his position is what  unlocks the box for the Heat, who need to be able to spread the floor and attack to play at their best. He’s made Bulls forward Carlos Boozer the invisible man in a battle that is as one-sided as the Heat’s 3-1 series lead.

Bosh struggled in the series opener, finishing with just nine points and six rebounds as the Bulls shocked them at AmericanAirlines Arena. Since then, he’s schooled the Bulls routinely. He dropped 13 points, five rebounds and three assists in that Game 2 blowout win, 20 points, 19 boards, four assists and two blocks in that grimy Game 3 win at the United Center and another 14 points, six rebounds and four blocks in Monday night’s Game 4 rout.

Even more impressive than the numbers, though, is Bosh’s presence and the way he has stressed the Bulls. Wade has been a shell of himself in this series, which would provide an opening for teams good enough to still be participating in the playoffs. But not when Bosh is the threat he has been in this series.

Wade has been a warrior and should be lauded for the adjustments (in his ego and in his game) he’s made to accommodate both James and Bosh since they joined forces in Miami. But at this stage of their careers, you could make an argument that Bosh is more important to the Heat’s bottom line than is the beloved Wade. The Heat don’t get past the Bulls without Bosh playing at a high level in support of LeBron.

And it’s clear a single superstar will not be leading his team to a championship anytime soon. Just ask LeBron, who learned that the hard way in Cleveland, or better yet, Kevin Durant.

All that brings me back to that little stir Bosh created earlier this season when he told Fox Sports Florida that already a lock for the Hall of Fame.

“Hell, yeah, of course. I’ve been a Hall of Famer like four years ago,” he said. “And I say that very serious, though. I’ve talked about it before with my friends.”

I’ve talked it over with a few of my friends as well, and, to a man, they disagree with Bosh. They still have a hard time seeing him as a true Hall of Famer. But I’ve come around to Bosh’s side over the last two seasons. I remember the Heat wobbling last year while he was injured in the playoffs and the boost both he and Wade provided when they got healthy and helped the Heat put away the Oklahoma City Thunder in The Finals.

The Hall of Fame isn’t a far-fetched notion for a player with Bosh’s credentials: career averages of 20 points and nine rebounds, eight All-Star nominations (and counting) and who knows how many championship rings he ends up with during this run with the Heat.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls, 2013 NBA Playoffs, HT News / Comments (94) /

Playing Hard Simply Not Enough For Robinson, Bulls Against Heat

May 14, 2013  ·  1:17AM

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CHICAGO – Nate Robinson unwrapped yards of elastic bandages from around his left shoulder, the bandages finally revealing and releasing a large ice bag on his left shoulder. Robinson had taken a hit from Mario Chalmers or Norris Cole or one of the other Miami Heat players who landed on top of him as if — like Robinson’s Chicago Bulls teammates — he might ride the tough little point guard through what was left of this series.

Robinson winced then and he winced now, nearly an hour after Chicago’s 88-65 loss in Game 4 Monday night at United Center. There were all sorts of miserable franchise playoff records set by the Bulls’ discombobulated offense — fewest points in a game, fewest in a quarter (nine in the third), lowest shooting percentage (25.7 percent) … sputter, gasp, fizzle. Robinson himself was a hot mess: an 0-for-12 night, including 0-for-5 from 3-point range. He had four turnovers to go with four assists, never got to the foul line and played 32:04 without scoring.

The instant-offense backup Chicago had turned to so many times this season and particularly this postseason was, this time, the battery in need of a jump start. No one else had the spark, either, so as their Energizer bunny ran down, so did everything the Bulls hoped to accomplish offensively.

You hold a team to 88 points — 34 in the second half — you ought to be able to win a playoff game. The Bulls never got close. They trail 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, with Game 5 Wednesday night in Miami.

Robinson, the crush of cameras and reporters finally gone, his sore shoulder finally freed, wadded up the elastic bandages and from the chair in front of his dressing stall, fired them hard to the floor. Well, at least he hit that. He dropped his head into one hand and kept it down for a while.

“Couldn’t make shots,” Robinson said. “You go out there and try to execute, you try to shoot shots that you make every day — every day — and it doesn’t fall, it takes a toll on you. Then you don’t want to feel like you’re hurting the team by shooting the ball, and that goes not just for me, I could see it on other guys’ faces.”

The Bulls trailed 11-2 in the first five minutes. They fell behind by 10 early in the second quarter and then, in the third, the bottom dropped out. They took 13 shots and missed 11. Robinson went 0-for-6. The nine points they did score stirred ugly echoes of their 10-point quarter against Miami in a 2011 East finals game that didn’t go well either.

By the end, their half of the stats sheet was whack-a-doodle: Twelve assists, 17 turnovers, 19 field goals. Miami had nine steals, blocked nine shots and contested or cut down angles on just about everything else. And the focal point of it all was Robinson, who got the sort of treatment normally reserved for Derrick Rose. (more…)

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Ego In Check, Wade Does Less For More

May 13, 2013  ·  10:57AM

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CHICAGO – This ongoing attempt by the Chicago Bulls to unseat the NBA defending champion Miami Heat, an outsized task for an undermanned team, might be going better if Dwyane Wade were 27 years old.

Wait, what…?

True, it seems counterintuitive to suggest that a younger, healthier, more vibrant and assertive Wade – who launched an average of 22 shots a game in 2008-09 while leading the league in scoring (30.2 ppg) – might actually make the Heat less dangerous rather than more. But that Wade, even with one NBA title tucked away, still had things to prove.

He wasn’t as inclined to wrestle with his ego in those days and, when he did, he lost more than he won. LeBron James? Four and five years ago, Wade saw him as a friend, sure, but also as the competition. James would have remained so even if they had teamed up back then.

And now? Wade can laugh about taking just one shot in the first half of a playoff game played in his hometown, can joke about the “efficiency” of his 5-for-7 performance for a mere 10 points. As Game 4 against Chicago Monday drew near, Wade was fine with his numbers because the Heat’s numbers – six victories down, 10 to go in their quest to reach and win The Finals – were right where they needed to be.

Funny how much wiser 31 can be than 27.

“You only play this game for so long and, when you leave this game, what memories are you gonna have?” Wade told a cluster of reporters after Miami’s workout Sunday at a University of Illinois-Chicago gym. “The memories I want to have are memories of success as a team. That’s why you make decisions like this. It’s not easy. It’s hard.

“Would I have ever thought I’d be in a playoff game, that I’d take seven shots and hit five? Hell no. But at the end of the game, was I [ticked off] about it? Nope. We won the game, moved on, had a great dinner. Now I’m looking forward to Game 4 and hopefully having a different output.”

Hoping for a different outcome was what triggered all this. Back in 2010, four years after Miami’s Wade-and-Shaquille O’Neal push to its first NBA title, the shooting guard dubbed “Flash” by his big buddy was – whoosh! – there and gone from the postseason that spring. He averaged 33.2 points in the first round against Boston and still got bounced in five games. Wade vowed it never would happen again. Two months later, James and Chris Bosh signed on for their big-time buddy ball.

“If I was a selfish player, this team never would have been assembled,” Wade said Sunday, while sitting an arm’s length away from James, dealing with his own media scrum. “If I was a selfish guy, it would have never worked.

“Once we made a decision to play together, that first year, we both were trying to be alphas at the same time and it worked at times and it was hard a lot of times. You just had to look and say, ‘OK, what is going to be best for this team?’ I felt I was a person who’d had to play different roles before, so I understand more a little bit than LeBron how to take a back seat and be a Plan B or be a 1A.”

James’ career arc, after that blip of adjustment in 2010-11, soars again. He is at the peak of his powers and has added two more MVP awards to the pair he won in Cleveland. Wade probably never will win one. But his chances of winning another ring? Those look better than ever.

All he has to do is cope with his aching right knee – there’s no mending that till summer now – and occasional snarky stuff in the media about how disengaged and low-impact he has looked lately.

“I don’t worry about that,” Wade said. “Now if I shoot 5-for-17, it’s a different conversation. But I took seven shots. You’ve got to look at my touches, more so than anything. WhenI had opportunities. … It varies from game to game. I’m a big boy. I know I can shoot a shot any time I want to. That’s not a problem.”

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra and Wade both said the challenge against Chicago’s stingy defense is to get those five guys moving side to side and, ultimately, a little less tied together. So far, Wade has been effective at that, typically probing and drawing a second defender, then passing out to Norris Cole, Mario Chalmers or James for more open opportunities.

The Heat might run a few more post-ups for Wade, given his advantages down low against Bulls counterpart Marco Belinelli. He’s almost certain to get to the foul line more if they do, though boosting his scoring average (13.0) in the series is nobody’s priority. Not the Bulls’, not the Heat’s, not his.

“As long as we’re in position to win and we’re playing good basketball, I will never complain,” Wade said. “Even though we all to an extent have egos, we all have a little selfishness in us as humans, I’m able to take myself out of it at times and try to do what’s best for the team. Even in the moment if it don’t look good.”

As for Game 4 and what’s left of the series and Miami’s postseason, Wade said: “I wouldn’t bet that I’ll shoot seven shots again. I can’t say I won’t, but I wouldn’t bet it would be seven.”

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Mouthguard In, Sympathy Out As Heat Expect More Of Same From Bulls

May 12, 2013  ·  11:10PM

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CHICAGO – Dwyane Wade acknowledged Sunday that, yes, after eschewing the use of a mouthguard through his NBA career, he now has begun chewing one. Wade said he has been wearing the protection for his teeth and mouth since Game 1 of the Miami Heat’s Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Chicago Bulls.

Any skepticism as to how physical the combatants expected this series to be can pretty much end there. Actually, Wade said a series of blows prompted his decision to sacrifice chewing gum for some oral protection.

“Because I’ve been getting hit in the mouth too much and I’ve been getting a lot of cuts in my mouth and I can’t eat during the week,” he said after the Heat’s practice at a University of Illinois-Chicago gym. “So I decided it’s now.

“I’m a gum chewer. But getting hit in the mouth and having to deal with these cuts in my mouth for like two weeks, torture. I can’t do it no more. I finally gave in.”

Getting used to occasional bouts of dry mouth beats oral surgery and dining through a straw, possible results in a playoff series as fiercely contested as this one. Even as the tough stuff seems to be backfiring on the Bulls — they have paid the price in foul calls, technical fouls, ejections and most recently in the $35,000 fine levied on coach Tom Thibodeau for remarks about the officiating — that team is determined to keep contact high.

It sees now other way to dig out of the 2-1 hole and survive the best-of-seven series.

“Yes, I expect the physical nature to continue tomorrow,” Bulls center Joakim Noah told reporters at his team’s practice facility. “Y’know, it’s our only chance.

“It’s just that, when you have somebody like LeBron James coming at you full speed, yeah, there’s a lot of contact. It’s just a part of the game. You look at playoff basketball, it’s always physical. You look at every series, it’s physical.”

Undermanned in the absence of forward Luol Deng (illness) and guards Kirk Hinrich (calf bruise) and Derrick Rose (knee rehab), the Bulls know their skill level can’t match or top Miami’s. That has them relying more than ever on a grinding defense and enough body-on-body work to, in theory, make the Heat players — from stars James, Wade and Chris Bosh to the fleet of 3-point shooters — uncomfortable.

“We’re a hard-nosed, tough-guy team,” Chicago forward Jimmy Butler said. “That’s what we label ourselves as. That’s what we pride ourselves on. We’re going to come out swinging.”

To which the Heat basically responded: Whatever.

“None of this is new to us,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra. “Nobody can hide from the fact that the games will be decided between those four lines. And our guys understand that.”

James, who was accused of a “flop” by Thibodeau on the ballyhooed play in which Bulls backup center Nazr Mohammed shoved him to the floor (and earned a swift ouster from Game 3 Friday), all but yawned over that comment.

“It’s kind of the same [as when] I heard people say I was overrated,” James said. “When you’re comfortable with who you are as a player and as a person, nothing really bothers you.”

James added: “I don’t need to flop. I play an aggressive game. I don’t flop. I’ve never been one of those guys.” (more…)

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Cole Fills ‘Nate’ Role Off Miami’s Bench

May 11, 2013  ·  8:50PM


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CHICAGO – Nate Robinson has been doing a Derrick Rose impersonation for the Chicago Bulls lately, which is tough enough against a Miami Heat defense that often makes life miserable for the real McCoy. But where that really hurts Chicago is off the bench, where no one is available to mimic Robinson’s instant offense and energy in reserve.

The closest thing this Eastern Conference semifinal series has to a Robinson impersonator, in fact, comes from the Miami side. His name: Norris Cole. The Heat’s backup point guard scored 18 points in the home rout of Game 2, but backed that up with 18 more – in far more clutch circumstances – in Miami’s 104-94 Game 3 victory Friday at United Center.

The flat-topped point guard in his second season from Cleveland State played all 12 minutes in the fourth quarter and, with seven points, outscored everybody in Chicago’s lineup in the period. Cole’s driving finger-roll with four minutes left got the Heat’s cushion to four points and his 3-pointer two minutes later bumped the lead to 96-88, essentially the game-winner.

“Norris is a tough competitor,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “He was most noticed for his 3s and driving down the lane tonight, but he made big plays for us all night.”

Cole, with starter Mario Chalmers, has made life difficult for Robinson the past two games, throwing traps at him and working to get or keep the ball out of his hands. The 5-foot-9 irrepressible force hustled his way to 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds but needed 42 minutes to get them; Cole worked more in Robinson’s normal range and ratio, his 18 points coming in 24:27.

“He kind of got hot late,” Chicago’s Taj Gibson said. “When you’re playing with three future Hall of Famers, guys are going to get open looks. … That team has a lot of guys playing with a lot of confidence.”

Shooting that way, too. Cole has taken eight 3-point shots in the series so far and made them all. He has hit 10-of-13 this postseason, including the four-game sweep of Milwaukee in the first round, and he is shooting 64.1 percent overall (57.7 on 2-point attempts).

“I think it’s just the reps,” Cole said of his accuracy after Game 3. “I work a lot with coach Dan Craig before practice and every night back in Miami. I have my shooting session late at night. I just am putting up a lot of reps and understand the spacing of our team. And have the confidence to knock it down.”

Last year, Cole averaged just 8.9 minutes in the Heat’s 19 playoff games, his role diminished by Spoelstra’s use of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade as de facto point guards. This postseason, Chalmers and Cole (22.3 mpg) have handled their position and duties more fully, with the backup earning his increased responsibility.

“With experience comes comfort,” Cole said. “I’m seeing things more than one time and I’m able to adjust.”

The Bulls have seen Cole as a problem for two consecutive games now. They’d better be able to adjust.

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Push Comes To Shove For Outnumbered Bulls

May 11, 2013  ·  2:19AM

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CHICAGO – Shorthanded from their first practice of training camp through the 104-94 Game 3 loss to the Miami Heat Friday night at United Center in their Eastern Conference semifinals series, the Chicago Bulls have remained stoic throughout — sphinx-like, even.

At no point during a season defined as much by who hasn’t played as who has – no Derrick Rose at all, no Luol Deng or Kirk Hinrich for about half of this playoff run now – have they whined. No grousing, no feeling sorry for themselves, no covetous glances or comments about the relative health of their opponents.

The Bulls have fallen in line behind their coach, Tom Thibodeau, who replays the same half dozen or so responses to any questions he fields about the team’s shortage of healthy players. More than enough to win. Do your job. Next man up. More than answers, they’re mantras and affirmations, repeated so often now that the fellows in Chicago’s dressing room truly believe.

Only it’s gone on too long now. The manpower disadvantage Chicago drags onto the court each game in this series against the NBA’s defending champions is starting to seize up on them. It’s frustrating, facing mighty Miami outnumbered and undermanned, and it’s starting to poke through not as woe-are-we grumbles about their injury plight but in a creeping sense of persecution.

Maybe it’s not merely the unfairness of relying on the same seven or eight players night after night, the Bulls more than hinted after Friday’s defeat, while the Heat can draw a rotation from 10 or 12. Maybe it’s the impossibility of winning basketball games five-on-eight, when three on the other side have whistles.

Yes, for the last few days, Thibodeau and the Bulls have gone there.

“We’re well aware of what’s going on,” the coach said after a game in which his backup center Nazr Mohammed got ejected for pushing Miami’s LeBron James in the second quarter and his starter Joakim Noah got called on what might have been an offensive rebound in the final minutes.

The former, a stunning moment that saw the NBA’s Most Valuable Player toppling backwards (and looking for the best place to land as he fell), cost Chicago Mohammed’s services, which typically provide 10 or 15 minutes rest for Noah. The latter, with the Bulls down 88-83 with 3:15 to play, might have triggered a four- or five-point swing when Noah’s foul coughed up the ball and the Heat’s Chris Bosh sank two free throws.

“When you play this team, you have to have a lot of mental, physical and emotional toughness,” Thibodeau said. “And things aren’t going to go your way. We’re not going to get calls. That’s reality. We’ve still got to find a way to get it done. And we can.”

That might read like typical Thibs-ese, but there are insinuations in it of a double standard at work. Thibodeau has dropped in comments about the Bulls “not getting calls” each day since their 115-78 meltdown in Game 2 Wednesday, when Chicago players were slapped with six technical fouls and both Noah and Taj Gibson were ejected.

Fact is, the sense that Miami might try to muscle up in this series dates back to Chicago’s streak-busting victory on March 27. After that game, in which the Heat’s run of consecutive victories ended at 27, James complained publicly about the Bulls being overly aggressive – particularly two “not basketball plays” in which Hinrich tackled him and Gibson knocked him down awkwardly in the lane. James acted out his frustration that night, slamming into Bulls forward Carlos Boozer to earn his own flagrant foul.

But the tone was set.

Game 1 flew below the radar, Miami searching for its game and its edge beneath some layoff rust and a lack of urgency dating back weeks. But Game 2 got snarly – in the tradition of Dwyane Wade pushing Rip Hamilton into the seats last season – and Game 3 wanted to go that way, too, if not for referee Joey Crawford, and his notoriously short fuse, working as the night’s top cop.

Still, it didn’t stop Mohammed. After the backup center fouled James to prevent a fast break, the Miami star pushed back – harder – sending the bigger man to the floor. Mohammed got up and, without even realizing James had just earned a technical foul for that move, shoved back. James went reeling, lost his balance or folded in a little theatrics exaggerating the impact enough that Mohammed was a sure goner from the game. Easy ejection.

The Bulls, however, didn’t see it that way.

“From my angle, I just saw a guy basically flop,” Thibodeau said. “And … I’m gonna leave it at that.”

Only he didn’t. Asked specifically about the refs’ decision to eject Mohammed, the Bulls coach said: “I didn’t think it warranted an ejection. I understand a flagrant foul. I understand that. But an ejection? No. No. Nope.”

Mohammed said he never imagined he would get tossed, given James’ shove triggered his reaction. And that’s where the context of what had happened – the way the series has gone, the way most of the games between Chicago and Miami have gone the past three seasons – bubbled to the surface.

“I look at some plays that have happened through the series already,” Mohammed said. “Guys jumping on [Nate Robinson's] face. [A] Guy tackling Marco Belinelli out of bounds. Guy takes out Nate first play of the game. I mean, there have been a lot of plays that didn’t [get] ejections.

“I’m disappointed in myself. I let my teammates down, I could have been out there to help. I’m disappointed in myself also because my son was probably watching the game. I don’t want him to see that type of behavior on the court. But I’m also disappointed it warranted an ejection for something like a push when I got pushed down first.”

There also was a heated moment late in the first quarter when Miami’s Chris “Birdman” Anderson fell atop Robinson along the baseline and wasn’t getting off him fast enough to suit Noah. The Heat do seem to aim their falls so they land on opposing players, so Noah rushed over and shoved Andersen, as he was untangling from the Bulls guard. It was a sneak preview of the Mohammed-James altercation.

Miami coach Erik Spoelstra brushed aside questions about the dust-ups, calling them “inconsequential” to the outcome. And, mostly, Spoelstra was right. Chicago could not get stops when it needed them down the stretch and the Heat got a big game from Bosh, unexpected help from backup guard Norris Cole and timely scoring late from James.

But the Mohammed and Noah incidents did matter to Chicago, same as nudge foul by Jimmy Butler on James for a three-point play that made it 99-90. The series is one of attrition for the Bulls, so more than doling out free throws, any disparity in how fouls are assessed further shortens their bench and dictates which players Thibodeau can keep on the floor, for fear of maxing out with six.

Miami can play with abandon, as the Bulls see it, because it has numbers on them. Its stars rarely veer into foul trouble – James had only three games this season of more than three fouls and never fouled out, while Wade had one disqualification and five more with more than three – and there is depth for everyone else.

“I’m watching how things are going,” Thibodeau said. “I see how things are going. I watch very closely. And what I’m seeing, we’ll adjust accordingly.”

Coming from a guy who’d rather sing the anthem pregame than make excuses or shift responsibility anywhere but within, it was telling. A sign, it seemed, that the toothache of missing players had pounded on too long.

Also telling: Noah’s reaction when asked late Friday if that March 27 game and James’ gripes about it had bled into how Miami was playing and the refs were calling things now.

“Nah, I don’t think so,” the Bulls center said.

His words said one thing. His eye roll, broad enough for Broadway, said another.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls / Comments (341) /

Bulls: Rose Not Playing in Game 3

May 10, 2013  ·  12:54PM

From NBA.com staff and wire reports

The Bulls are reporting that injured point guard Derrick Rose is a no-go for Game 3 of their series against the Miami Heat on Friday night:

With Kirk Hinrich (calf) and Luol Deng (complications from a spinal tap) also out, the Bulls again will be undermanned in the series, which is tied 1-1.

Good news: They’ll have Taj Gibson, who was thrown out of Wednesday night’s Miami win but was not suspended by the league.

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said the veteran guard Hinrich underwent a second MRI this week. Thibodeau said the results were “basically” the same as the first, although Hinrich’s feeling better.

More on the series on NBA.com’s Heat-Bulls series hub.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls, 2013 NBA Playoffs, HT News / Comments (167) /

Intensity, Physicality Shift To Chicago’s Court

May 10, 2013  ·  11:20AM

CHICAGO – Symbolically at least, the changeover crew at the United Center should have left the hockey boards up for Game 3 of the Chicago Bulls’ Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Miami Heat Friday night (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).

Given how significantly the intensity and physical play were dialed up for Game 2 in Miami – a 115-78 Heat victory that not only stuck the Bulls with the most lopsided loss in their NBA playoff history but punked them, too – the shift to Chicago’s home ice, er, court figures to ratchet up again.

“Because of the technicals and ejections, there might be a perception it’s going above and beyond basketball – it’s not,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “You have two physical teams. Type A personalities.”

Two alpha dogs that don’t particularly like each other. “They don’t like us. We don’t like them,” LeBron James said. “We have to carry that same aggression, that same attitude into Game 3.”

The Bulls got worse than they gave in Game 2, from the scoreboard, from the stats sheet (pounded 56-18 in the paint, coughing up 28 points on 19 turnovers), from the referees (six technical fouls and ejections of Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson) and from Miami in general in first strikes and aggressiveness. The Heat presumably won’t show up Friday night with Birdwoman – the snarling blonde matron who displayed her singular talent in Noah’s face – but they will have Birdman Andersen, as well as a roster full of defending champs and first-time ring seekers eager to meet their first serious road challenge of the postseason (Milwaukee, for two quick games in Round 1, was embarrassingly hospitable in every way).

Meanwhile, the Bulls — already undermanned without Luol Deng (illness), Kirk Hinrich (bruised calf) and Derrick Rose (knee rehab) – will have to calibrate their physical play; they don’t have the manpower to absorb needless ejections, technicals or personal fouls. They will, however, have crowd muscle in their packed, raucous arena.

For fans at the United Center, upraised middle fingers are part of the daily commute, so they’ll be antsy to up the ante or, at least, the decibels. And as far as that league-wide trend this season of Heat “hate” dissipating – in apparent appreciation of James’, Dwyane Wade‘s and other Heat players’ excellence, along with more folks in Miami garb infiltrating more buildings – let’s just say Chicagoans never got that memo.

It’s a potentially combustible mix: a road team determined to not get pushed around the way it did last time in the UC (the end of Miami’s 27-game winning streak), some cranky hosts ready to assert home court, a boisterous, Friday-night crowd primed to play some role in the series and three referees bringing fresh eyes to a pivotal contest toting two games’ worth of baggage.

Somewhere within that Chicago will have to find ways to protect the rim better – a 41-28 rebounding disparity and no blocks/few altered shots against the Heat’s heavy interior attack proved fatal, even before all the jawing and theatrics at ref Scott Foster and his crew.

“I don’t want to put it on the officials,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “If it doesn’t go your way, you can’t allow it to impact your next play. You can’t allow it to get you sidetracked so you don’t do your job. You have to have the ability to do your job all the time. You have to have great concentration.”

One area of concentration for Miami after Game 1 was Nate Robinson, the fireplug Chicago guard who was a reasonable Rose facsimile that night (27 points, nine assists, 10 free throws). Heavy defensive attention from James never was needed, but the Heat’s own point guards and other defenders made life more miserable for Robinson. He finished with 11 points on 3-of-10 shooting and four turnovers to two assists.

“They’re the world champions for a reason and they played like it,” Robinson said. “We just flat-out sucked.”

At the other end, Miami had to be please that it played fast, hit 3-point looks that clanged off in Game 1 and shook some extra rust off Wade, who scored eight of his 17 points in the decisive 30-15 third quarter. He shot 7-11, hitting his final six after a 1-for-5 start.

In personnel, the series grinds on as a mismatch – Miami boasting three of the top league’s top 20 players (and No. 1 overall), Chicago missing three guys from its preferred eight-man rotation. In intangibles, the Bulls do have the homecourt edge now, though United Center was where the Heat snuffed Chicago’s postseason in Game 5 of the 2012 East finals.

“It’s more than just not liking them,” Noah said. “It’s just two teams that want to win.”

So expect contact. Expect booing. Expect basketball. Expect whistles. Expect whining. Expect double-digit leads and comebacks. Expect single-finger salutes, too – right now the series stands 1-1-1.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls / Comments (17) /

Bulls’ Deng Still Ailing, Weakened

May 9, 2013  ·  8:09PM

If there’s any player participating in the Eastern Conference semifinal series between Chicago and Miami who could afford to lose 15 pounds in a week, it might be the Heat’s Chris Andersen. And even then only if it was all ink.

Instead, it was Bulls forward Luol Deng reporting that sudden weight loss — just one of the ill effects of his battle first with illness and then with complications of a spinal-tap procedure performed last week to rule out viral meningitis. Deng, a two-time All-Star, has not played since Game 5 of the first round against Brooklyn, his condition worsening and requiring multiple trips to the hospital after his body was found to be leaking spinal fluid from the initial diagnostic procedure.

He underwent a “blood patch” treatment to stop the leak but told reporters at the Bulls’ practice facility in north suburban Chicago that he had lost 15 pounds and still was suffering from headaches as his body heals from the ordeal. As Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald reported:

Deng appears to be on the mend, but his body is low on spinal fluid, which surrounds and helps protect the brain. There’s really no telling when he might be able to play basketball again.

“I wish whatever you take out, you could put it back in,” Deng said. “It’s just your body’s got to make the fluid back up. I’m doing everything I can. I’m staying hydrated. The biggest thing is, really, eating. I’ve got to try to get my appetite back and eat as much as I can.”

Coach Tom Thibodeau called Deng’s status day-to-day, but there’s no chance he’ll play in Friday’s Game 3 against Miami at the United Center. After that, the teams will get two days off before Game 4 on Monday, and even that seems unlikely for a return.

Not having Deng – an all-purpose player on whom Thibodeau leans more even than a healthy Derrick Rose – is just one of Chicago’s manpower problems. Rose remains out — despite countless rumors, criticism and backlash defenses — from the knee injury he suffered April 28, 2012. Rose’s replacement, Kirk Hinrich, had a second MRI exam on the calf bruise that has sidelined him since Game 4 vs. the Nets.

Then there was forward Taj Gibson, who was waiting to hear if the NBA would further penalize him after his ejection from Game 2 at Miami Wednesday. Gibson probably will be fined for his profane outburst at referee Scott Foster and slow departure from the court but it’s possible the league could suspend him for a game.

The Bulls’ suffered the worst playoff setback in franchise history at AmericanAirlines Arena Wednesday, falling 115-78 as the defending champion Heat pulled even at 1-1 in the best-of-seven series.

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Posted in 2013 Conference Semis: Heat-Bulls / Comments (42) /

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