The Lake Show Is Back, Chicago Is a Contender and Miami Is Nothing But Smoke and Mirrors

Today the Chicago Bulls completed their season sweep over the Miami Heat. While Miami lead most of the game, Chicago came back and in the final seconds of the game LeBron James failed to finish again. The Heat have had 1 win against a top 5 team, have lost 5 of their last 6 games,  are 5-13 in games decided by 5 or less points and have given up second place to the Chicago Bulls. The 3 seed puts them in a position to face the new-look Knicks that defeated them 86-91 last Sunday.  We could potentially see a team with the second and third best players in the world get eliminated in the first round.


It's funny, when LeBron announced he was "taking his talents to South Beach" some set the bar for wins at 72, the record set by Jordan and the '96 Bulls. They won't even win 60 this season. I expected more out of this Heat team, I thought they would finish in the low to mid 60's in the win column and first in the East, but still fall to the Celtics in the Conference Finals.



As of now I don't believe either of those teams will make it out. Since Miami's tailspin and Boston's trade, the Chicago Bulls have looked like the best in the East. Derrick Rose is without question the MVP and although I initially gave this title to Chris Paul, I am now leaning towards Rose for the honor of best point guard. Despite Boozer and Noah missing a ton of games the Bulls are only 3 games behind Boston for first. At full strength the Bulls have been nearly unbeatable which is why they are my favorite to represent the East in June.                                                                                                          
             
Out of the West, I'm sticking with the Lakers and I am totally confident in my decision after Sundays blow-out against San Antonio. I have said on this blog before that a single regular season game means shit. However, a string of well-played games against formidable opponents in the latter half of the season shows that the Lakers have finally reached championship form. The Lakers will continue their reign while LeBron remains the most talented loser in the NBA...Was that last comment objective? Hardly. I'm still right though.