Though today is a lighter NBA Playoff day, with only two games, both games have got me bouncing off the walls.
Tonight starts off with my Chicago Bulls playing the Cleveland Cavs and although the heading on NBA.com reads "Bad News For Bulls", with the article claiming that Lebron took it easy on us the first time around, I have faith that game two will go better for them. I am not going to yet claim they will win (yes I'm saying the Cavs will take this one, but simply because I am waiting for the Bulls to come home to the United Center, we always do better against them there) but surely the Bulls will be less overwhelmed and the offensive and defensive leaders in Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah will step their game up. In my opinion as long as Derrick plays selfishly, Noah brings the energy, Kirk knocks down some threes and Gibson throws block party after block party, the Bulls should be alright. As of right now I have lost a little bit of faith in Luol Deng and Flip Murray, but if they feel like having good nights as well, their scoring will be a nice bonus as well. Honestly, all I ask of Vinny Del Negro is to not bring Pargo in. Acie Law is a much more focused player and deserves a shot in the Playoffs. In terms of the other end, I have no doubts that Lebron will bring his best game to the table and play as if it was the final round against the Lakers. He is not one to back down or overlook a team, and fortunately for him, neither are his two main wing-men, Shaq and Mo Williams (one of my favorite players in the league).
Following that matchup will come the Denver Nuggets against the Utah Jazz, and fresh off both a win and a Playoff career high, I'm pretty sure Carmelo will get the job done and keep his team at the top. There is no doubt in my mind that Jerry Sloan gave his team a pretty lengthy talk after game one (whether it was a pep-talk or a beat-down I'm still debating) though so the Jazz are by no means going to walk in and let it be a blowout, but short of the slight foul trouble the Nuggets found themselves in last game, they did everything right, and I personally believe they will do so again.
Matchups like these are what make me so basketball obsessed so it goes without saying that right now, I feel like a kid in a candy store. Will my intense happiness change to depression later on? Perhaps. I always take it to heart when my teams get beat (or in this case get beat bad, as I think the Bulls are still going to fall short). But for right now I am ready to watch some great players play a great game. Derrick, Lebron, Mo, Melo...what more could you ask for?
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