[sickeric]

I understand that it "appears" that the Heat are playing their best ball and this is the playoffs and not the regular season but Bulls create rebounding nightmares for Heat and are better at making adjustments in game (i.e. coaching)

call me a sucker but I am going with CHI at +165

any takes or opinions?

[Deggs]

the refs will be ALL OVER MIAMI. nothing would make more paper for Stern if Miami will win the NBA title.

[blinky88]

bulls

[craigpb]

Miami is going to be the fav regardless. This hinges on Bulls defense. If play like last 2 games Miami will be done quickly. If not Miami will probably take it.

[Bradyd]

Well let's see, the Heat only have to focus on 1 player to stop Chicago. The Bulls have to focus on 3. The playoffs are a superstar league. Not only do you have to have them, but you must contain the other teams superstar(s). The Bulls have to raise their game to beat Miami 4 times. Miami just needs to play significantly better than ATL, who took them to 6.

[suicidekings]

Well let's see, the Heat only have to focus on 1 player to stop Chicago. The Bulls have to focus on 3. The playoffs are a superstar league. Not only do you have to have them, but you must contain the other teams superstar(s). The Bulls have to raise their game to beat Miami 4 times. Miami just needs to play significantly better than ATL, who took them to 6.

This could not be more wrong...

[Bradyd]

This could not be more wrong...

It's no secret that if you take Rose from Chicago, the Bulls are in serious trouble. It's also no secret that if the Big 3 in Miami have monster games, the chances of beating them 4 times in a series is not very good.

[chantrain]

LOL @ people who don't know anything about the Bulls talking like they do know anything

[chantrain]

NEWSFLASH, this is a team game, it's not gonna be 3 on 1

[Bradyd]

NEWSFLASH, this is a team game, it's not gonna be 3 on 1

Do you even understand Lebron and Wade's game? Monster game doesn't just mean scoring, it also means getting their teammates involved and rebounding, which they do very well. If they focus on Rose and not only limit his offense, but his ability to get others involved, and increasing his turnovers it will be disastrous for the Bulls. Just like the Bulls doing the same thing to the Miami Heat's big 3. I didn't think I needed to explain that but obviously I did...

[chantrain]

do you even understand the bulls? you said all it would take is to stop Rose. That already means you're underestimating every other member of the Bulls team

[BookieOweMe]

Heat locked

[DeluxeLiner]

Bulls are deep, have home court, and play better defense. Should be close so good value Bulls +170 at Betjam.

[nobull]

classic trap line ............. Chicago has the better record & won all 3 meetings regular season yet they are dogs in this series? ............. reminds me of GB vs PITT super bowl

folks take the favorite line in this series prop ............ MIA all the way to da bank

[Bradyd]

do you even understand the bulls? you said all it would take is to stop Rose. That already means you're underestimating every other member of the Bulls team

The Bulls rely on Rose heavily. The offense runs through him. Rose makes those players better, that's his job as the teams only superstar. You can argue all you want but you know it's true. Here's a question: If the Heat limit Rose in a way that makes him sloppy and ineffective, are you saying that they still have a good chance to beat the Heat 4 times??? <-----Because I am saying they DON'T.....

[Jackie Moon]

I hope Rose steps up but idk if I can see it happening. I hope so but unfortunately I think Heat in 6 or 7

[FindTheLock]

in my opinion the only team that has a chance of stopping the heat at this point in the season is the mavericks. Mavericks have a full team and a deep bench. The bulls are a good team, but they have shown many signs of weaknesses throughout the playoffs thus far. I didn't think the celtics would get punked like they did by miami, and before seeing the games played during the playoffs to this point, I would've taken the bulls to win against the heaters hands down, however, now that I've had the pleasure of watching all of the teams play I think the Heat will roll the bulls and possibly even the mavericks in the finals. I don't like Lebron, but the guy is ridiculously talented and the Miami defense isn't going to give anybody any layups. Rose won't be able to finish at the rim when he plays this "playoff heat squad." We shall see, but damn the heat looked like monsters closing out the celtics like they did. The Bulls struggled in every game but one against the pacers. It's Just a sport of match ups and I don't think the bulls will be able to guard Miami very well, but I don't think the Heat will have the same problems when they're on defense.

[chantrain]

lol @ all the idiots who think Miami is unstoppable. you are in for a rude awakening soon

[TheCommish]

I think I would need slightly higher odds on Chicago before dropping anything on them.

[FindTheLock]

lol @ all the idiots who think Miami is unstoppable. you are in for a rude awakening soon

dude being a huge homer is one thing, but calling people idiots is another. Chill out with your internet keyboard muscles. If you wouldn't say it to someones face then don't say it online either. You must be a little kid talking like that just because people don't agree with you.

[chantrain]

sorry, you're right, that was rude.

[suicidekings]

The Bulls rely on Rose heavily. The offense runs through him. Rose makes those players better, that's his job as the teams only superstar. You can argue all you want but you know it's true. Here's a question: If the Heat limit Rose in a way that makes him sloppy and ineffective, are you saying that they still have a good chance to beat the Heat 4 times??? <-----Because I am saying they DON'T.....

I think you're undervaluing the abilities of the other Bulls players. Yes, Rose is the primary scorer and distributor for the Bulls. The Heat are capable of pressuring him and cutting down on his offensive output but look at the Bulls games this season where Rose had tough defenders on him. His assist ratio goes up and the games tend to be lower scoring defensive battles. The Bulls can win by scoring 100 or by scoring 80. We saw the Bulls running offense through Noah much more in Games 5 & 6 as the Hawks really started to pressure Rose with the doubleteams, trapping him. If anything, the Bulls are more capable when teams make the mistake of putting too much emphasis on Rose and not respecting the rest of the scorers. No one is really going to impact Rose significantly in one on one coverage, so the double team is really necessary to stop him. As soon as you do that, it opens up Deng/Boozer/Korver/Bogans (depending on the situation) to get clean looks. If those guys were not all accomplished catch-and-shoot guys then the Bulls would be a lot more vulnerable, but just because Rose is the primary playmaker, don't assume that the Heat can win by containing him.

The Heat are also going to have troubles on the offensive glass. They overpowered the Celtics in rebounding, but the Bulls are very good at it and can minimize the second chance points on the defensive end and will always have offensive rebounds themselves. The Heat are weak in the paint and that's why they were 0-3 against the Bulls this season.

[thezbar]

The line seems high considering the home court advantage. I have to think its because most of the big $ its looking at the Heat. On paper the line should be lower.

[FindTheLock]

I think you're undervaluing the abilities of the other Bulls players. Yes, Rose is the primary scorer and distributor for the Bulls. The Heat are capable of pressuring him and cutting down on his offensive output but look at the Bulls games this season where Rose had tough defenders on him. His assist ratio goes up and the games tend to be lower scoring defensive battles. The Bulls can win by scoring 100 or by scoring 80. We saw the Bulls running offense through Noah much more in Games 5 & 6 as the Hawks really started to pressure Rose with the doubleteams, trapping him. If anything, the Bulls are more capable when teams make the mistake of putting too much emphasis on Rose and not respecting the rest of the scorers. No one is really going to impact Rose significantly in one on one coverage, so the double team is really necessary to stop him. As soon as you do that, it opens up Deng/Boozer/Korver/Bogans (depending on the situation) to get clean looks. If those guys were not all accomplished catch-and-shoot guys then the Bulls would be a lot more vulnerable, but just because Rose is the primary playmaker, don't assume that the Heat can win by containing him.

The Heat are also going to have troubles on the offensive glass. They overpowered the Celtics in rebounding, but the Bulls are very good at it and can minimize the second chance points on the defensive end and will always have offensive rebounds themselves. The Heat are weak in the paint and that's why they were 0-3 against the Bulls this season.

well I would have to disagree with one thing, and that is that James is perfectly capable of guarding anyone in the NBA one on one. Rose is a threat no matter who is guarding him, but I don't think the heat need to double team him. Might be interesting to see the coaching strategies play out. If I were coaching I would have lebron running the point like magic johnson, and on defense i would stick him on rose. James can get plenty of assists kicking it to wade when the driving lane is closed off, but in all reality Bosh, D wade, and James should be getting plenty of points in the paint if they run their offense to the rim instead of settling for outside jumpers. Bosh setting screens with D wade on the wing and James dribbling the rock is just too much to overcome. Bibby can sit out at the 3 point line and jack up opened 3's off the kick out when the double teams drop into the paint to help stop james penetration attempts. Should be interesting to see how the bulls handle it if the opened heat wing players are making their 3's.

[pittmatt80]

I think this is going to be a great series to watch. The Bulls play some great defense, they will need some big games from Rose but he does a great job of getting everybody involved. Then you have the Big Three from Miami we all know what their about. If the Bulls can keep playing defense at a high level they definitely have a chance to beat the Heat. I think this one can go either way but gonna love watching it either way. Good Luck

[Scorpion]

Well let's see, the Heat only have to focus on 1 player to stop Chicago. The Bulls have to focus on 3. The playoffs are a superstar league. Not only do you have to have them, but you must contain the other teams superstar(s). The Bulls have to raise their game to beat Miami 4 times. Miami just needs to play significantly better than ATL, who took them to 6.

Make that only 2

Bosh sucks ass

[ShogunRua]

Refs will take over the series. Look for Miami to get a lot of calls late in games.

[NBA_Brosuf]

The way I see it like this but I'm going to use some logic here.

I'm saying that the teams who can put up more points will be the winner. With Bulls, a hellava game for them is hitting 100+ points. In the ATL series, In 6 games, Bulls failed to put up 100+ points and when your opponent puts up 100+, bull lose.

Miami in the boston series had 97,98,99, 102 . This shows consistency to the miami game. With offense alone, miami has the slight advantage.

The winner of the okc/memphis series will put on a good show against Dallas. okc/memphis be putting up them 100+ games so the question is whether dallas can outscore them or at least slow them down.

I have a feeling that if okc wins the series, they are going to take it all. They are like the NE patriots who has the league's highest scoring team and to beat them is going to be a challenge. Too bad the NFL playoff is not the best of 7 series or else NE will eat everyone alive.

[8ArIvd5]

this is a tough series to cap. won't have an opinion until it's too late.

[jorge1]

I would take bulls +165 on the series and hedge during key games. I think thats the absolute best thing to do for those who know how to bet on playoffs.

Im from miami, so i love heat, but regardless, who is to say bulls dont come out 2-0 in the series, setting up for a very nice hedge opportunity.

I know the series goes to at least 5 games, so i would take the + for the series and then cap games later...sit out the first game or two, depending on results.

If you have 5 units which you can put on hold on this series, its the best to do. Put the 5 on the bulls, go from there.

Jsut an idea.

I put 5x on lakers series when they were down 1 game and even though they lost, i still made 4.5 units back all the way through...

[suicidekings]

Refs will take over the series. Look for Miami to get a lot of calls late in games.

The Heat may be the big marketing show for the NBA, but Rose is their poster child. I can understand favouring the Heat over the Celtics, but at this point the NBA has the best possible matcerhup for the ECF and it's all gravy from this point on. Either MVP Rose looks great or the Heat superteam looks great. I will be suprised to see a lot of bias in the referees calls.

[suicidekings]

Miami in the boston series had 97,98,99, 102 . This shows consistency to the miami game. With offense alone, miami has the slight advantage.

How does it make sense to take the Heat's offensive output from one series and say that they'll produce in similar fashion against an entirely different team?

[suicidekings]

well I would have to disagree with one thing, and that is that James is perfectly capable of guarding anyone in the NBA one on one. Rose is a threat no matter who is guarding him, but I don't think the heat need to double team him. Might be interesting to see the coaching strategies play out. If I were coaching I would have lebron running the point like magic johnson, and on defense i would stick him on rose. James can get plenty of assists kicking it to wade when the driving lane is closed off, but in all reality Bosh, D wade, and James should be getting plenty of points in the paint if they run their offense to the rim instead of settling for outside jumpers. Bosh setting screens with D wade on the wing and James dribbling the rock is just too much to overcome. Bibby can sit out at the 3 point line and jack up opened 3's off the kick out when the double teams drop into the paint to help stop james penetration attempts. Should be interesting to see how the bulls handle it if the opened heat wing players are making their 3's.

And by effectively guarding him what do you mean exactly? Cut him down to 20ppg? How about assists?

The Bulls had more points in the paint in all three meetings this season (avg margin = 5+ PITP)

Bibby will not play much in this series.

[kiefynugs]

Lebron guarding Rose sounds like a great way to put bron bron in foul trouble to me. Not to mention putting bibby on korver out at the 3? Thats a recipe for disaster.

Leave Rose to bibby. Let him get his layups except when bosh or Z can come over for the block, but put a lot of defensive pressure on the rest of the bulls, especially noah because he is going to beat the shit out of big Z. Dude is a monster this year.

Personally I think this series will be closer than people think. Scary because I think the bulls are only at like 45 mil in salary this year.

[kiefynugs]

How does it make sense to take the Heat's offensive output from one series and say that they'll produce in similar fashion against an entirely different team?

I lolled at that too. Especially when he said he was going to use some logic

I do agree that the heat have a more efficient offense than the bulls though