Last night the Heat decided to finish off the game instead of celebrating too early.  Dwyane Wade led the way for the Heat last night with 29 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot.  Chris Bosh didn’t play especially well last night but he did hit the eventual game winning shot.  Bosh finished up with 18 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist on 7 of 18 shooting from the floor.  LeBron James had a so-so game with 17 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals.  Mario Chalmers pitched in with 12 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists in 29 minutes off the bench.  The Heat are now up 2-1 in this series.

The Heat were up 88-73 with 7:15 left in the game and they thought they had it in the bag.  That wasn’t the case as the Mavericks outscored the Heat 22-5 in the last 7:15 of the game.  Dwyane Wade led the way for the Heat last night with 36 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots.  LeBron James also filled up the stat sheet with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 1 blocked shot.  Mike Bibby (14 points, 1 rebound and 4 steals) had one of his  best games of the playoffs.  Chris Bosh was a waste last night as he only shot 4 of 16 from the floor to finish with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 1 steal.  The Heat are now tied up with the Mavericks at 1 game apiece as this series shifts to Dallas.

The Heat outrebounded the Mavericks 46-36 and they held them to 37.3% shooting from the floor and those are the biggest reasons for the win last night.  LeBron James (24 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal) and Dwyane Wade (22 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 blocked shots) led the way for the Heat last night.  Chris Bosh only shot 5 of 18 from the floor but he still finished up with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 blocked shot.  Mario Chalmers pitched in with 12 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal in 28 minutes on the floor.  The Heat are up 1-0 in the NBA Finals on the Mavericks.

The Heat outscored the Bulls 18-3 at the end of the 4th quarter last night, to snatch a very impressive road victory over the Bulls to close them out.  LeBron James led the way for the Heat last night with 28 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots.  Dwyane Wade also had a very solid game with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals last night.  Chris Bosh also filled up the stat sheet with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 4 blocked shots.  The Heat have defeated the Bulls in five games.  They will move on the face the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.

The Heat outscored the Bulls 38-25 in the 4th quarter and overtime last night to pull away for a nice home win.  LeBron James led the way for the Heat last night with 35 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots.  Chris Bosh had another decent game with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist.  Dwyane Wade only shot 5 of 16 from the floor but he still filled up the stat sheet  with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots.   Mike Miller had his best game of the playoffs last night with 12 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in 26 minutes on the floor.  The Heat are now up 3-1 on the Bulls.

The Heat shot 50.7% from the floor last night and they outscored the Bulls 28-20 in the 4th quarter to surge to victory.  Chris Bosh led the way for the Heat last night with 34 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot.  LeBron James also had a great game as he filled up the stat sheet with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.  Dwyane Wade only shot 6 of 17 from the floor but he still finished up with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists.  The Heat are now up 2-1 in this series.

The Heat really turned up the D last night as they held the Bulls to 34.1% shooting from the floor and they held them to 29 paltry points in the second half.  LeBron James led the way for the Heat last night with 29 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.  Dwyane Wade also had an outstanding game with 24 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots.  Udonis Haslem provided a nice shot in the arm for the Heat last night off the bench.  He stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot in 23 minutes.  Chris Bosh pitched in with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists last night.  The Heat have now tied up the Bulls in this series at one game apiece as it shifts to Miami.

The Heat were outrebounded 45-33 last night  and they were outscored 55-34 in the second half which were the two big reasons for the loss last night.  Chris Bosh led the way for the Heat last night with 30 points and 9 rebounds.  Dwyane Wade only shot 7 for 17 from the floor and he turned the ball over 4 times last night.  He still finished up with 18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals last night and that just isn’t going to get the job done.  LeBron James was even worse as he was 5 for 15 from the floor while also turning the ball over 4 times.  He finished up with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocked shots.  The Heat got blasted last night but it sill only counts as 1 loss.

This is the Clash of the Titans that a lot of experts expected to see in the Eastern Conference Finals.  The Bulls were undefeated against the Heat during the regular season but that’s a moot point as the Celtics also played well against the Heat before the playoffs started.  Here’s a look at the matchups in this series:

POINT GUARD:  The ancient Mike Bibby looks way past his prime and he’s going to have to deal with Derrick Rose?  Good Luck!  Bibby has played in 10 games (all starts) for the Heat during the playoffs and he is averaging 20.5 minutes, 3.4 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game.  Bibby will have to start taking more shots this round because Rose is going to be a bear for the Heat to stop if he doesn’t have to work on D.

Derrick Rose has been stepping his game up in the playoffs.  He has played in 11 games (11 starts) so far in the playoffs this year and he is averaging 40.0 minutes, 28.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, 8.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game.  The Heat often get abused by good point guards so look for Rose to explode in this series.

EDGE:  GIGANTIC FOR THE BULLS

SHOOTING GUARD:  Dwyane Wade is the guy who makes the Heat go.  This is his team.  Wade has played in 10 games (all starts) for the Heat  in the playoffs and he is averaging 39.6 minutes, 26.2 points, 7.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocked shots per game.  I have a hard time believing that Wade will be able to average those kinds of rebounds against the Bulls who have a huge front line, but he should have no problem getting his points.

Keith Bogans is the starting shooting guard for the Bulls, but he’s not much of a threat.  He has played in 11 games (all starts) for the Bulls so far in the playoffs and he is averaging 19.5 minutes, 5.4 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.  Bogans has shot 48.7% from three-point range in the playoffs, so if the Heat leave him open he can make them pay for it.  His main job will be chasing D-Wade around defensively.

EDGE:  GIGANTIC FOR THE HEAT

SMALL FORWARD:  LeBron James is the best small forward in the NBA.  He finally stepped up in a big game against the Celtics in Game #5 when he pretty much ended their season by himself in the last few minutes of that game.  The Heat will need him to play that way in this series too if they are going to beat the Bulls.   James has played in 10 games (all starts) for the Heat in the playoffs and he is averaging 43.4 minutes, 26.1 points, 9.4 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocked shots per game. 

Luol Deng is the unsung hero of the Chicago Bulls.  He will take this as a challenge as many people in Chicago wanted the Bulls to replace him with LeBron James over the summer.  Deng brings his hardhat to work and he will once again in this series as he’s not intimidated at all by James.  Deng has played in 11 games (all starts) for the Bulls during the playoffs and he is averaging 43.2 minutes, 16.7 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game. 

EDGE:  HEAT

POWER FORWARD:  Chris Bosh is counted as one of the “Big Three” but he’s by far the weakest link.  The Heat will need Bosh to be consistent in this series as they will need him to man up against Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah in the paint.  Bosh has played in 10 games (all starts) for the Heat in the playoffs and he is averaging 39.0 minutes, 16.3 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.1 blocked shots per game.  The Heat can’t afford Bosh to play soft in this series.

Carlos Boozer is a thick bodied power forward who has a nice jumper while being a fierce rebounder at the same time.  Boozer has played in 11 games (all starts) in the playoffs for the Bulls so far and he is averaging 30.9 minutes, 11.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.  This is a key matchup for the Bulls as they need Boozer to really step up and keep the Heat off the glass.

EDGE:  EVEN

CENTER:  The Heat are likely going to start Joel Anthony at center in this series because of his defense and rebounding.  Anthony has played in 10 games (2 starts) in the playoffs for the Heat and he is averaging 31.3 minutes, 4.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.6 blocked sots per game.  The Heat need Anthony to really help out on the glass in this series because there is no way that they are going to get an average of 17.0 rebounds out of D-Wade and LeBron James in this series (that’s what they are averaging between them in the playoffs so far).

Joakim Noah is one of the most fierce centers in all of basketball.  Most of his points come from putbacks and dunks.  He plays like his hair is on fire at both ends of the court as he plays full-go the entire game.  Noah has played in 11 games (all starts) for the Bulls so far in the playoffs and he is averaging 32.7 minutes, 9.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.2 blocked shots per game. 

EDGE:  BIG FOR THE BULLS

BENCH:  The Heat have not used the bench much in the playoffs and I look for that trend to continue.  Mario Chalmers will likely be chasing around Derrick Rose in this series.  He has played in 10 games (0 starts) for the Heat so far in the playoffs and he is averaging 24.8 minutes, 6.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game.  James Jones will likely be the long range assassin off the bench for the Heat as has shot 44% of his shots from three-point range so far in the playoffs.  Jones has played in 10 games (0 starts) for the Heat in the playoffs and he is averaging 24.6 minutes, 7.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas will get some minutes in this series in the pivot.  He has played in 10 games (8 starts) in the playoffs for the Heat so far in the playoffs and he is averaging 11.6 minutes, 3.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.  Juwan Howard (2.0 points, 1.0 rebound), Mike Miller (0.7 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.7 assists) and Udonis Haslem (1 game, 3 scoreless minutes) have the potential to help the Heat if called upon.

The Bulls also don’t use their bench much, but it’s not from a lack of talent.  Kyle Korver is the best three-point shooter in the NBA, period.  He is hitting 47.4% of his three pointers in the playoffs so far, and he will kill the Heat if they don’t have a guy in his face when he’s on the court.  Korver has played in 11 games (0 starts) so far in the playoffs and he is averaging 18.3 minutes, 7.8 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.  Power forward Taj Gibson provides  a lot of muscle off the bench.  He has played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Bulls so far in the playoffs and he is averaging 17.5 minutes, 6.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game.  Backup shooting guard Ronnie Brewer is known for his defense but he’s going to be seriously tested by D-Wade.  Brewer has played in 11 games (0 starts) in the playoffs so far and he is averaging 13.9 minutes, 2.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.  Point guard C.J. Watson will give Derrick Rose a break when he needs one (not to often).  Watson has played in 11 games (0 starts) in the playoffs for the Bulls and he is averaging 9.0 minutes, 3.2 points, 0.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  Centers Omer Asik (0.9 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.1 assists) and Kurt Thomas (2.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists) will likely share minutes behind Joakim Noah in this series.

EDGE:  EVEN

COACHING:  Early this season, it seemed like Erik Spoelstra was going to lose his job.  But, he figured out how to get the guys to play their best and the rest is history.  Spoelstra has improved his career mark to 12-10 (54.5%) during the playoffs as he has the Heat running hot right now.

Bulls’ head coach Tom Thibodeau burst onto the scene this year for the Bulls.  He won the Coach of the Year Award as a rookie as he led his Bulls to the best record in the Eastern Conference.  Thibodeau has continued to show his chops as a coach in the playoffs as his Bulls are 8-3 (72.7%).

EDGE:  EVEN

PREDICTION:  The Heat are going to wish that they took the games earlier this year more seriously.  I like the Bulls to win this series in 7 epic games.