[Russell0WestbrookParticipant]

 Have the bulls stopped playing their signature defense in the playoffs or is it that everyone has stepped their games up for the playoffs? I felt the Bulls would kill the pacers and the Hawks but these guys are sticking around for some reason and I cant figure it out. I really feel if the Pacers had a finisher (NOT GRANGER) they would have beat the bulls because they were winning every game except 1 and let the bulls come back. This was the best team during the regular season with the coy and mvp why are they struggling with these guys? Can they beat the Heat or Celtics playing as they have been so far?

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

Everybody steps up and plays defense in the playoffs.  The Hawks have more weapons on offense (JJ, Crawford, Teague, Smith, and Horford) and they are playing bigger up front.  Last night, Jeff Teague attacked the basket at will, Horford/Collins/Pachulia more than held their own against the Bulls big men, Joe Johnson was efficient (24 points on 14 shots), and Josh Smith was the best player on the court.  Comparing designated shooters, Korver went 1 for 8.  Crawford went 5-11.  Pachulia nearly matched Noah’s production in 10 fewer minutes (Noah: 6 points, 11 rebounds in 35 minutes. ZaZa: 5 points, 9 rebounds in 25 minutes).

 

[Russell0WestbrookParticipant]

 thats 1 game i’m talking about the bulls haven’t looked like the same team in the playoffs

[Memphis MadnessParticipant]

Russell,

The Bulls look the same.  It looks like everyone else is playing better.  Early in the Bulls-Pacers series I made a thread wondering if Rose’s Bulls is like LeBron’s Cavs with great team defense, some pretty good players but no great 2nd option or other stars.  These Bulls could be built more for the regular season.  They really don’t have that many shooters either.  Korver is good, but other than that they don’t have any pure spot-up shooters.

I think the Bulls miss Ben Gordon.  He could score from anywhere and create his own shot. 

Not sure what they can do though.  Lots of flawed teams in the league, and it looks like Stern wants more parity.  So maybe the guys they have now can win a ring in the next few years.  But, I really don’t see them being a dynasty. 

[JoeWolf1]

 This is a young team, who hasn’t played together for all that long.  Despite having the best record in the league, I feel these are just growing pains they are working out right now.  A playoff run takes a long time, and they should be clicking better by now, but it isn’t the end of the world.  They just need to have their heads on straight for game 5 and dont give one away at home.  

If they go down to Atlanta, then obviously they’re run is over, but if they squeak past without really clicking as a unit then I think the red flags are raised high in the air, but I don’t think it’s panic time yet for Chicago.  

Boozer had a solid game last night which really helped, but the two instances in the game when Chicago didn’t look good and I think that ultimately cost them the game is when they had their 2nd unit in during the 2nd period and despite playing good defense they couldn’t generate any real offense.  Korver was off and missed 5 quick shots and a guy like Watson who normally can get a little offense going was off.  They kinda lost their momentum there and again at the end of the 4th quarter when Chicago was relying too much on Rose.  They do struggle to find offense at times and that, not their defense, IMO, is what has given them the most problems as far as closing games.

[immaletufinishbutParticipant]

I feel like the bulls are not as good defensively as they get credit for, outside of noah and brewer they really dont have many defenders. There is a case for bogans but give me a break, he not going to stop any top guard from scoring 20 or 30 on the bulls. And there was a very very wide free throw disparity in the bulls-pacers series, of not for the NBA wanting rose to win mvp, the pacers would have had a better chance to win. Outside of game 5, everygame was close, but the freethrows took them over the top. Drose averaged almost 17 freethrow attempts per game alone that series, its amazing to me………….

[JoeWolf1]

Gibson is a very good defender and so is Asik and they both come off the bench, and Deng is a very underrated defender as well.  And Bogans doesn’t have to lock down a top guard the whole game, he only plays about 15-20 minutes on average and Brewer or Deng usually matchup for the latter half, Bogans is a good defender to have on your team to play that 15-20 minutes.   They are no 08′ Celtics by any means, but they really do play good team defense.  Playoff opponents have only topped 100 twice while 5 times Chicago has held them to under 90.

They Bulls haven’t looked great in the playoffs, but to me it’s not defense, it’s just a big questionmark on who is going to step up and be a legit threat outside of Derrick Rose.  Sometimes Deng will step up and drop 20 or Korver will hit some big 3’s, but outside of that, I feel scoring is what has given them the most trouble, not defense.

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