The Miami Heat, particularly Chris Bosh, beat the Chicago Bulls in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday night. His 34 points were a career Playoff high for him. The Bulls had trouble defending him (and the rest of the Heat for that matter) in the post, and their own difficulty finishing in the painted area in the other end. According to Herb Gould of the Chicago Sun Times Derrick Rose isn't ready to chalk up this and the last loss to any nervousness he or the team might be feeling.
‘‘There’s no more jitters,’’ Rose added. ‘‘Guys know what they have to do on the court to get the job done. It’s like a fight out there. We’re both trying to do something special. We have two good teams, and we’re both trying to win.’’
Saying that the Bulls have to stop Chris Bosh is one thing, but actually doing it is another. The Bulls couldn't stop him all night long, and Carlos Boozer thinks it might because of the attention that the defense has been paying to the Heat's other two stars.
‘‘They’re a good team,’’ Boozer said. ‘‘They’re here for a reason. We have to do a better job on their other guys. It’s tough when you put so much attention on LeBron and D-Wade. But we have to be able to help and recover.’’
And that's the rub; when you stop LeBron, you still have to deal with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. If somehow you are able to stop any two of them at a time, than the third can always beat you. If you had said before this game that LeBron and Wade would be held relatively in check, you would have liked the Bulls' chances to win. But who could have seen this game coming from Bosh? The truth is that any one of the big three on the Heat could beat the Bulls on any given night. Tonight, it just happened to be Chris Bosh's turn.
After looking so good in the first game of the series, the Bulls have looked pretty flat overall in the last two. David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune has a few suggestions for them as to how they can get back to playing winning basketball.
For the Bulls to recover Tuesday and even the series at 2 games apiece they have to defend the post better and rediscover the lost art of ball movement. For them to win the series, they need Rose to resemble Rose more than he has his past two disappointing games that have sucked the enthusiasm out of the Bulls' postseason.
It might seem obvious, but sometimes the best solutions are. With a team that has LeBron and Wade on it, you can't let Chris Bosh of all people beat you. And the Bulls have the league MVP, not the Heat. Rose needs to show them, and himself, why he earned the hardware this year.
You can hear everything that the Bulls and the Heat had to say after the game in this press conference video at NBA.com.