Now that it is basically all over for the Bulls except for the crying, let's look at how they got there and where they are going. In game two, the Bulls mysteriously didn't show up. Boozer was typically awful, but the overall energy level was missing. It was a tragic game to give away at home in a series where every game is tight.
Bulls did come with energy in game three, but unfortunately the Heat were too hot, most particularly Bosh, who was just hitting everything he put up. Some of those points were bad Boozer defense, but plenty of them were just Bosh hitting the jumper after Bulls bigs rotated off to double team James. This is the dream setup for Miami, because when Bosh can hit the jumper before the defense can rotate back onto him, it is nearly impossible to beat Miami. You have to give a lot of credit to James (Miami's clear MVP for this series) for being able to force a double team and then get Bosh the ball quickly.
Game four was a tragic overtime loss. Pretty much every Bull except for Boozer played hard on defense, but Rose was off his game offensively, much as he has been the entire series, and the Bulls just don't have enough scorers to cover for that. They had golden opportunities to win this one in regulation, but came up a bit short. Those crucial fourth quarter miscues have doomed them against a team that is just enough ahead of the Bulls offensively as the Bulls are against them on defense.
That fourth quarter also illustrates why I'm a confirmed Boozer basher, even for a game where he was OK offensively. At one point, Miller came charging wildly into the lane, dribbling almost out of control. Miller is not fast and Boozer had plenty of time to stop over and take a charge, but Boozer perpetually has his feet cemented to the floor on defense, so all he did was wave at him as he went by for a layup. A play later, he did the same thing to James, only fouling him for good measure to give the Heat a valuable three point play. Meanwhile, on the other end of the court, Haslem (the un-Boozer) slid over to take a huge charge. It was actually a dubious call, but the fact is that Haslem put himself in a position to get it and Boozer never does.
And that is the present and future of the Bulls, and a big part of the reason why it is a sad joke to give Forman co-executive of the year honors, ironically with Pat Riley. Much as I hate Miami's whinny Big Three, the Heat are in far better shape for the future than the Bulls. Our biggest free agent acquisition, Boozer, is an expensive albatross around our necks for years to come. He is basically untradeable and I have almost no hope for a Deng-like performance leap. And speaking of Deng, I think now is a great time to unload him while his stock is high! We have no answers at present for the fact that teams are going to get better at ganging up on Rose, much like Miami is doing, and the Bulls will struggle to find alternative scoring.
As a side-note, Asik's series ending injury is a bigger factor than most people realize. Even though he normally comes in for Noah, we now have to leave that to Taj, which means more Boozer in the second half than is good for us.
Still, Boozer doom and gloom aside, it was an excellent year for the Bulls. They did better than expected during the regular season and about as well as expected in the post. If Forman can somehow improve on that next year, then he'll earn the accolades that his mistakenly received this year.
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