Unless the letters A, C and L are prominent in upcoming stories about the Miami Heat, LeBron James and the supporting cast will soon take care of the Milwaukee Bucks on their way toward a probable berth in the NBA Finals.
After a dominating performance at home in Game 1, Brooklyn came out flat in Game 2 and ceded home-court advantage to the Bulls with a Game 2 effort that could only be compared to a noontime YMCA pickup game.
Eastern Conference
Brooklyn Nets (1-1) at Chicago Bulls (1-1)
Thursday, April 25
United Center, Chicago
8:30 p.m. EST
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O/U – 181
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We were waiting to see which team would be the first to blink in the playoffs, and in the Eastern Conference it was the Nets.
With Joe Johnson (who laid a 6-for-18 egg) leading the way, the Nets shot 35 percent from the field and 4 for 21 from 3-point turf, and now find themselves in the uncomfortable position of having to find a way to win in Chicago in order to advance to the conference semis.
The Bulls are hardly a lock at the United Center, where they found a way to lose 17 games this season. But Chicago will never go down for lack of effort, and the Nets know they have to tighten things up considerably when they take the court tonight.
Nets fans are still trying to figure out what’s going on with Gerald Wallace. In Game 1 Wallace played rock solid defense on Luol Deng and scored 14 points. In the 36-plus minutes he was on the court, the Nets outscored the Bulls by 22 points. But Wallace disappeared in Game 2, going 1 for 7 from the field in 19 unproductive minutes while Brooklyn was outscored by 16 points. [ad-6571516]
Of course, Chicago’s choke-hold defense had a lot to do with the Nets’ troubles. Deng, Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah all had double-digit rebound totals, taking turns checking Nets board machine Reggie Evans. Evans usually has 10 rebounds before lunch, but was held to just 8 in Game 2.
Things can change on a dime in the playoffs, but with the Bulls coming home, Brooklyn has its hands full. The key for the Nets is putting Game 2 behind them and concentrating on the task at hand, namely figuring out a way to steal back home-court advantage.
Chicago’s less-than-dominating 24-17 record at home and Brooklyn’s solid 23-18 road record would seem to indicate that the Nets have a shot at turning things around, but we like Brooklyn’s chances better in a Game 4 in Chicago. Home teams tend to dominate in emotion-changed first home games, and the Bulls seem to have found something that disrupts the Nets offense.
Looking for Chicago to make it two in a row with a cover in this one, with the winner of Game 4 taking control of the series.
Oh, what this series could have been. Just imagine a healthy Kobe Bryant, eyes piercing. A focused Dwight Howard itching to be recognized as the best big man in the league.
Minutes don’t matter a lot in the playoffs. Adrenaline is flowing, the games finally mean something and there is usually ample rest between battles.
Oklahoma City playing at home in the playoffs is about as close to a lock as there is in the NBA.
So much for prevailing thought. The Celtics went into this series feeling that they had a pretty good shot at taking out the No. 2-seed Knicks.
Besides and Act of Congress, an Act of God or the Stanford band marching onto the court whenever the Heat have the ball, what will it take for the Milwaukee Bucks to make this series even remotely competitive?
So much for the playoffs providing the Bulls with a fresh start. The 17-point beatdown that the Brooklyn Nets applied to Chicago on Saturday night in Game 1 of their playoff series was just a continuation of the struggles that the Bulls experienced over the final few weeks of the regular season.
