Updated May 27, 2011 20:27:00 They say lightning never strikes twice in the same place but here we are, staring down the barrel of a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals between Miami and Dallas. Neither franchise has been back to the big dance since they met five seasons ago but both rosters have evolved considerably since then. Let's take a look at how the Heat got there.
Chicago (1) v Miami (2)
Series outcome: Heat 4-1
Writing as a former Cavaliers fan jilted by LeBron James 10 months ago when he departed for the tropical surroundings of south Florida, it's tough to concede that his much-maligned move is paying off and Miami is in unstoppable form as a result. The Heat made a shaky start to their 2010/11 campaign despite the coming-together of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh but the Eastern Conference's newest "Big Three" have figured it out in a big way. What was expected to be a team capable of an offensive blitzkrieg every single night poured equal intensity into the defensive end of the court as well.
Speaking of defence, it's been the cornerstone of Chicago's season after the club installed former Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau as head coach. Thibodeau was the defensive guru behind the Celtics' 2008 championship season and he earned the NBA Coach of the Year award after guiding the Bulls to their first division and conference titles since the Michael Jordan era and a league-best 62 wins, equalling a league record for wins by a rookie head coach. One of the Bulls' other weapons through the regular season was their offensive rebounding - led by Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer, they grabbed an average of 11.8 boards on the offensive end per game with a 1.7-rebound differential over their opponents.
And as things turned out, it was second-chance points and dominance on the offensive glass that helped Chicago to a 1-0 series lead after Game One at the United Centre. The Bulls ripped down 19 offensive boards to Miami's six, scored 23 more second-chance points and crushed the Heat by 21. Luol Deng put up 21 points (including four three-pointers), seven boards and his defensive lockdown on an unusually flustered-looking James made Chicago's doubters sit up and think "these guys have got what it takes to make the Finals". Regular season MVP Derrick Rose had 28 on 10-of-22 shooting and added six assists, but the series opener was the last time the Bulls point man would make better than 45 per cent of his field goals.
Rose's shooting woes continued throughout the next four games, in which he went 32-for-98 (32.6 per cent) from the floor and even worse (4-for-23, 17.39 per cent) from long-range as his side lost the next four straight games - which was a big deal in itself considering Chicago never lost more than two in a row all season. It was unreasonable to expect Miami not to come out swinging hard to avenge the series-opening loss and it did so, stealing home-court advantage behind James' 29-10-5 night and Wade's 24. The defensive chokehold the Bulls had over the Heat's scoring threats seemed to have eroded overnight and by the end of Game Three, when Chris Bosh silenced the number one seeds with a 34-point night, Miami was moving full speed towards the Finals.
The Heat needed an extra period to push the Bulls to the brink of elimination with an overtime win in Miami in Game Four but the series could have been 2-2 if not for two missed Rose field goals from 17 and 18 feet with the chance to break the 85-85 deadlock as the clock ticked down. Wade and James had six each in overtime and Bosh added four more to give Miami the chance to close things out in Chicago on Thursday night. The visitors did just that in a surprising late comeback, erasing a 12-point margin in the final three minutes to clinch the Eastern Conference Championship with an 83-80 win. Wade struggled from the field early but he and James were both firing on all cylinders, orchestrating an 18-3 run to end the series on their terms.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the key to the Heat's offensive success was their Big Three - James, Wade and Bosh accounted for an average of 67.8 of Miami's 89.4 points per night. But Miami's bench players have acted as energy guys on both ends of the floor - most notably the fit-again Udonis Haslem in the paint and guards Mario Chalmers and Mike Miller playing cameos at the perimeter. Joel Anthony is still playing big minutes and while he offers virtually nothing in points or rebounds, his shot-blocking (2.07bpg this postseason) is a valuable asset.
Perhaps the most telling individual statistic to come out of the series was that Rose's assist numbers (6.6apg) dipped from his regular season average (7.7apg) while his field goal attempts skyrocketed from 19.7 a night to 24.0 ... but his makes dropped from 8.8 to 8.4. If that's too many numbers to process, it can be said that the 22-year-old former number one overall draft pick opted to take on much of the offensive responsibility himself, but struggled under the defensive attention of James and the Heat and tried his best to shoot his team back into each contest. His free throw numbers stayed largely the same due to Rose's propensity to drive in traffic to the basket but again Miami got its stops where it counted.
Rose averaged a team-best 27.1ppg for the postseason but the nearest Bulls contributor was Deng (16.9 a night), while Boozer was impotent with the ball in his hands. A career .537 shooter, Boozer's field goal percentage plummeted to .407 against Miami and despite back-to-back double-doubles in Games Three and Four he was unable to give Chicago the consistent second scorer it desperately needed. With that said the Bulls shouldn't go home discouraged that their season ended prematurely. After all, they made it to the Eastern Conference Finals with a rookie head coach and a roster that had only played in that system - and together, more importantly - for one season. Chicago will likely take a lot out of the series loss and as the cast and crew all find their grooves with each other, so should postseason success.
Tags: sport, basketball, united-states
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