Good Start

Hello fellow readers. I've been away longer than I care to be, and for that I apologize. In between yelling at Chicago Sun-Times hack columnist Joe Cowley via Twitter, and taking extended golf trips with family to New Mexico, some exciting things are happening with the Chicago Bulls.

The aforementioned Bulls have advanced to their first Eastern Conference Finals since 1998. Even though it's not a surprise to me that they've gotten this far, it's still very significant, exciting, and remarkable in terms of appreciating how fascinating this team is.

That being said, this is not the time to wax poetic about them, because the Eastern Conference Finals is not the end of this 2011 Chicago Bulls movie. As I eluded to earlier, this team's goal is to win the NBA Championship. Their victory tonight over the Miami Heat has gotten the Bulls one step closer to reaching that goal.

Tonight's win, was textbook 2011 Bulls. The Bulls won't dominate teams from the opening tip. The won't muscle teams around with big bruising frontcourt play. They won't run up and down the floor or try to finesse teams in any way. The Bulls M.O., is to out-work teams in every facet of the game (offensive rebounding and second chance points in particular) for three quarters, and then league MVP Derrick Rose puts teams away in the 4th quarter.

Some of the most telling stats for me tonight included the following : The score being tied at 48 at the half, and then Heat only putting up 34 second half points, compared to the Bulls 55 second half points speaks volumes to the coaching of NBA Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau. Three point field goal percentage tells part of the story of this one, as the Bulls shot 10-21 beyond the arch, while the Heat were 3-8. Oh and those rebounding totals? That would be the Bulls with 45, to the Heat's 33.

Defensively, the Bulls seem content with allowing Bosh to get his points and rebounds, while focusing on Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. The strategy worked as Wade and James combined for 33 points scored total, while Bosh himself scored 30. They've utilized this approach during all three regular season victories over the Heat, and so far so good.

With all that said however, I don't think the Bulls run away with this series by any means. As a matter of fact I believe the Bulls will drop game 2 on Wednesday, simply because Miami is too good of a team to not adjust to what they saw tonight. Still, that's another blog post, for another time.

Overall, I predict the Bulls win this series in 6 games, and will most likely play Dallas in the NBA Finals. As for right now, this series will be a back and forth affair early on, but I still maintain the Bulls will emerge victorious.