Bulls vs Hawks Game 1 blog, brought to us by MJ's underwear

[Red Hawk #21]

lolz at those who said this would be a sweep

[lefty]

Wow.......

[NewJerSpur]

Props to Teague for stepping in and stepping up. Johnson and Crawford kept the Hawks in the game in the 3rd and Atlanta ran away with it playing better defense and rebounding better than the Bulls did.

[BoricuaCJA]

Wow Rose getting injured at the end of the game. Not smart.

[Killakobe81]

and I agree Celts would of beat them too, miami most definitely ...

and my guess any of the west teams right now would have a shot especially the Lakers/ Mavs but OKC and Memphis would not be scared of them either.


Rose has to be MVP like almost every night for them to win ...

[NewJerSpur]

That's what happens when you trap with 5 seconds left and you're down 8

[024]

I'm not reacting based on one game, I said it before the playoffs, the Bulls rely too much on 1 guy for their offense..if you focus your D to make it tough to Rose, with multiple, active defenders, Chicago doesn't have any options to exploit the over-help, or it forces Rose to make tough finishes..

Boozer is a good regular season player, but he obviously isn't reliable enough in a playoff setting..he's more of a #3 option..

Bulls desperately need another perimeter scorer..

i actually think the bulls' strength is that they are pretty balanced. they got solid wing players in deng, brewer, and korver. they have low post players in boozer and gibson plus an all star pg in rose. their main weakness is treating rose like he should take over every game when in reality he can't. they need to create a nice balance and they should be fine. if they continue to rely on rose, they will lose.

[ChrisRichards]

Derrick Rose round 1 vs the Pacers

38% FG

Derrick Rose game 1 vs the Hawks

40% FG

MVP

[NewJerSpur]

lolz at those who said this would be a sweep

I didn't think it would be as compe ive as it has been thus far because I didn't think Atlanta could played a disciplined enough game for the majority of 48 minutes. Good start. The activity on defense and rebounding looked impressive. We'll see how it translates into Game 2.

[ChrisRichards]

i'm not reacting based on one game, i said it before the playoffs, the bulls rely too much on 1 guy for their offense..if you focus your d to make it tough to rose, with multiple, active defenders, chicago doesn't have any options to exploit the over-help, or it forces rose to make tough finishes..

Boozer is a good regular season player, but he obviously isn't reliable enough in a playoff setting..he's more of a #3 option..

Bulls desperately need another perimeter scorer..

+1

[Killakobe81]

I like their defense but late in games seems rose and korver are only reliable scorers. As someone said, Boozer is vastly overrated. Saw him minimized the last 3 seasons vs. the Lakers in the playoffs.

[Capt Bringdown]

Chicago has looked weak, while Miami has looked pretty good. Who'd of thunk it?

[Juanobili]

Bulls fans will know it as "The ankle" when they don't win this year

[HarlemHeat37]

i actually think the bulls' strength is that they are pretty balanced. they got solid wing players in deng, brewer, and korver. they have low post players in boozer and gibson plus an all star pg in rose. their main weakness is treating rose like he should take over every game when in reality he can't. they need to create a nice balance and they should be fine. if they continue to rely on rose, they will lose.

I completely agree that the Bulls have a good balance of talent, but none of those guys can create their own offense though..Deng and Boozer can do it occasionally, but neither is a guy that you can give it to on a consistent basis..putting a big defender on Boozer will negate his ability to create, and putting a guy with the same size as Deng will negate his ability, too IMO..

I don't think the Bulls need an All-Star, because Rose is too ball-dominant for it to work, but I think they need a perimeter guy that can come off the bench and create some offense..a guy like Jamal Crawford, JR Smith, Marcus Thornton, etc..

[DPG21920]

"Joe Johnson wouldn't make the Mavs better. He's not worth giving up Roddy for"

- Mav Fan

[NewJerSpur]

Props to Collins and Zaza for some nice work on the boards and on defense. Rose Watch 2011 'bout to go down folks.

[Killakobe81]

But harlem brings a great point ...it's still just one game. Celts, Bulls and OKC are still the favorites and just need one road win to get back homecourt. Obviously Celts have the toughest opponents but the great news their loss was on the road so not as tough to overcome ...

The 2nd round has been pretty good so far outside the atrocious frist quarter yesterday in Miami ...and these series should ALL be tough.

[Killakobe81]

LOL chuck's 2nd round predictions are off to a GREAT start tonight ...

[DPG21920]

A lot of mediocre teams playing well and the elite teams are faltering.

[Red Hawk #21]

I didn't think it would be as compe ive as it has been thus far because I didn't think Atlanta could played a disciplined enough game for the majority of 48 minutes. Good start. The activity on defense and rebounding looked impressive. We'll see how it translates into Game 2.

Gracias, Hermano.

Thing is we're just as athletic as the Bulls (Probably even more), our issue is that we don't move the ball well, and we take ill-advised shots. The Bulls don't have great shooters and they rely way too much on Rose. It really just depends which team can make the other pay for their flaws.

[ChrisRichards]

You know, I doubted the Hawks against Orlando and really at this point I shouldn't doubt them against Chicago, but I just have this feeling the Bulls will still close them out in 6 games.

[ElNono]

monster game from Joe Johnson... can he keep it up?
Will be interesting to see what's going on with Rose...

[Capt Bringdown]

Hawks shot 51% from the floor, 53% from downtown. Fluke game?

[HarlemHeat37]

I would still pick the Bulls to win the series..

The Bulls defensive system is built to shut down an iso-oriented team like Atlanta, forcing them to take jump shots..however, in tonight's game, it didn't seem like Atlanta missed any jump shots..you could argue that Chicago's D got the shots they wanted to see, Atlanta just made them..

I wouldn't count on Johnson to shoot like that again..

Atlanta obviously put themselves in a great position, though, they already stole homecourt..

[Red Hawk #21]

I would still pick the Bulls to win the series..

The Bulls defensive system is built to shut down an iso-oriented team like Atlanta, forcing them to take jump shots..however, in tonight's game, it didn't seem like Atlanta missed any jump shots..you could argue that Chicago's D got the shots they wanted to see, Atlanta just made them..

I wouldn't count on Johnson to shoot like that again..

Atlanta obviously put themselves in a great position, though, they already stole homecourt..

Exactly, they played good defense all night. But we won't be playing iso ball every game (I hope). I expect us to push the ball more and play more pick and roll in the upcoming games. This obviously doesn't mean we'll beat them, but we should be able to give them a run for their dinero.