The Chicago Bulls are in the midst of a first round playoff match-up with the Brooklyn Nets and the Bulls find themselves up three games to two in this best of seven series. The Nets took game one from Chicago and the Bulls responded by winning three straight to go ahead three games to one, but unfortunately Chicago was unable to wrap up the series in game five as Brooklyn pulled out a 110-91 win over the Bulls.
The Bulls have been led by the dominating play of backup guard Nate Robinson who has provided a huge spark off the bench for Chicago. Robinson willed the Bulls to victory in game four as it seemed certain that Brooklyn would tie the series at two games apiece.
The Bulls were down by 14 points with three minutes to play and Robinson let everyone know that they should never count Chicago out. Robinson scored 23 points in the fourth quarter alone and narrowly missed breaking Michael Jordan’s record of 24 points in a quarter of a postseason game.
Robinson ended up finishing the game with 34 total points and fouled out in overtime.
The playoffs have seen the Miami Heat sweep away the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round and also the San Antonio Spurs sweep the Los Angeles Lakers in four games as they came unraveled without star Kobe Bryant who is out due to an Achilles tear.
If the Bulls are able to get past the Brooklyn Nets in game six or in game seven, Chicago will draw the defending champion Miami Heat in the second round. There is some speculation that All-Star and former MVP Derrick Rose would return for a series with the defending champs, but since he has not played all year it is hard to believe that he would return in the second round of the postseason.
The Bulls have rallied around and played fantastic defense to get to the 3-2 advantage over the Nets, but defense can only get this team so far. The offense will need to be clicking in order to beat the Nets, but definitely will need to be running on all cylinders if they draw the Heat in the next round.
My prediction is the Bulls will end the series in six games as hopefully they will get Kirk Hinrich back who can lockdown star Deron Williams and lead the offense. Don’t be surprised if this series does go to seven games as the Bulls may be missing some pieces on Thursday and a team on the ropes always comes out strong.
The Bulls will try once again to end this series in game six back at the United Center on Thursday, May 2. The game is set to tip-off at 7 p.m.
Greg Pilafas
Deputy Editor in Chief