Before I get to the actual game analysis, there's one thing that needs to be mentioned. John Lucas III is by far the best 3rd string point guard in the league. He made 9-12 FGs for 24 points and made 2 clutch free throws at the end of the game to ice it. I would not have expected the Bulls to put up 106 on one of the best defenses in the league missing Derrick Rose and Richard Hamilton. Lucas had the game of his life though and carried the Bulls to this win.
The rest of the Bulls success came from their physicality and toughness down low, and their utter domination on the glass.
Early in the first quarter, Ronnie Brewer took advantage of the Heat's lackluster baseline defense. He continuously cut backdoor to the basket for easy layups. Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer displayed that they're one of the better frontcourt passing tandems in the league and consistently found him and gave him pinpoint passes.
Another play they ran that utilized their bigs' unique passing talents began, as most of their possessions do, with Joakim Noah getting the ball at the top of the key. Noah is unique in that he has a lot of raw quickness off the dribble, something that most post players do not have. This forces his defender to respect his ability to drive and play close to him, freeing up space in the middle of the floor. The Bulls then positioned Boozer behind Chris Bosh in the post, and after an easy lob over Bosh's head, Boozer laid it in for 2. The fact that the Bulls established deep position near the basket early in the game set the tone for the rest of the contest and Chicago never backed off the pedal.
As always with the Bulls, their success comes from their depth. Aside from Derrick Rose (and Luol Deng, to an extent), no one on this team can be considered a star. That said, the majority of their bench players can keep the game going on their own, and and this game was no different. The bench totaled more than half the team's total points (56), almost half their total rebounds, (23) and contributed 12 of the last 16 points of the game.
As of right now, the unit is living up to their hype.
Bench Mob indeed.
No comments:
Post a Comment