This is an easy prediction. The NBA is rigged. No way the Heat lose to the Bulls.

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I'll take your silence as an "I'm too scared to lose another bet to you, Ivan".

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This is my signature...

I heard that this morning as well, Sinicalypse. Truth be told, the Bulls haven't exactly been all that impressive since the NBA Playoffs tipped off. While last night's 20 point win over the Hawks was a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10 on the "1st and 10" debate that the guys were talking about, I think these Bulls rate closer to a 5 than the 4 Skip Bayless, the 8 Stephen Bardo and the 8.5 that the Suns' Jared Dudley gave these Bulls this morning on "ESPN First Take". That being said, I think we have not seen the best of these Bulls...yet.

I'm with that.

You wanna do Game 1 or the whole series?

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

Game 2...

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This is my signature...

Not very confident.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

aite. Game 1 it is.

Do I get any points since the Heat are favored?

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This is my signature...

I forgot Miami's favored. I don't want to be looked at as a frontrunner (especially because I WANT the Bulls to win).

Nevermind. Bet's off.

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Kid Cairo's Boers & Bernstein YouTube Channel

Kid Cairo: 2013 March Madness Tournament Winner!

"Cowabunga? Cowa fucking piece of dog shit! This game is diarrhea coming out of my dick!"

You're jinxing da boo...

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Seriously, I pray you're right dude. I mean, I don't want to see the Superfriends win anything, especially with the dawn of the Superfriends v2.0 (Knicks) on the horizon.... this is really the Bulls' best chance to win the whole damn thing over the next 5-7 years, and I really believe that.

I hope it's as easy as Bill Wennington saying "The Bulls know they only have to shut down 3 people to win this series" Hey, that's totally true... it's just that their 3 people are markedly harder to shut down than Joe Johnson, J-Smoove, and Al Horford, who all too often get in the mood to shut down themselves, especially J-Smoove.

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I like the bulls chances and can't see this going less than 6. People that see this as lebron and wade > rose are to close minded when it comes to the NBA. Remember the heat beat boston when their best player had one arm the last half of the series. Anyone who thinks bosh will have a big impact I would like to hear why. It's funny how quickly the big 3 is turning into the 2 alpha dogs. At least people are getting it right, better late than never

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

One more thought left on something I read here. I'm very surprised so many seem to think this will determine the champ. I recommend reading advanced basketball blogs or sites in order to appreciate the teams espn doesn't feature primarily if yore unable to of your own volition. I think the heat deserve to be favored slightly over the bulls and possibly the mavs if that matchup occurs. However, I'm done counting out Memphis, I picked okc to win the west for a reason and am not surprised by much of their play thus far, and IMO Dallas is the best team left overall. I think dirk has the potential to outplay anyone in a series right now. I cant even believe I wrote those last two sentences but they are sincere, not just trying to be contrarion camps. The times they are a changin' in the NBA

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I think that's probably true. Also, I think people have the tendency to look at Rose winning an MVP at 22 and think he's just at the beginning of a long run as a top player. And he may be, but I don't think he can do it playing the style he is right now. He just takes too much of a beating. A great player can do that for awhile, but at some point he needs to reinvent himself. Jordan was a completely different guy for the second threepeat. Kobe is still a young man but you can see him wearing down. Rose may never be better than he is right this minute. The Bulls' time is now.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I think a major factor in this series will be Thibs. He has an advantage over Spoelstra with strategy, and he obviously has a better handle on his team. If he uses this edge with bench use, etc., Bulls in six.

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I cannot believe you wrote them either.

As far as the Heat/Bulls series. My heart says Bulls in 7. My head says Heat in 6.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Right on all counts but people said this about wade a few years back. Hes arguably the best player alive right now. And Kobe has played 15 of some of the most taxing seasons ever. Plus keep in mind while you may be right and I see your logic, the list of very young MVPs to burnout is much shorter than that of those who have went on to even greater overall careers. Plus bosh is a liability going forward, not an asset, in terms of value. That's important if you are trying to accurately forecast the league 5 years from now

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

My heart says Bulls will win the series in 5 but my head says they may get swept.

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If the Bulls get swept, I will run down LaSalle St. in my boxers. I would avoid 222 though.

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You know I've been as hard on dirk and the mavs as anyone but this is not a dallas team I've seen before and Im not seeing the old dirk. We always knew he had it in him (game 7 against SA in 06) but he looks unguardable and poised now. He has an amazingly deep bench that will easily counter ours and wll eat Miami's alive, especially in Dallas. They have a great team, coach, and franchise player. Just like the bulls. Many people wanna focus on LA's implosion in game 4 but it was what Dallas did to LA in the first 3 games that caused that. And I don't even know how the biggest dirk hater could ignore dirk consistently closing better than Kobe all series long

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Alvin Robertson is not just a name on a page. Rose becoming a better stealer than him is not in the top 100 things I expect or hope for. It would be cool tho I guess

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I hope I am wrong, but my head says Heat in six this series.

However, I'm not as optimistic about the Heat's future...

1) Bosh's contract is a terrible value, especially considering all the depth they are missing. The new CBA will be very important because if there is a hard cap, Miami will have some serious maneuvering to do. The Bulls have more flexibility.

2) Wade will be 30 this winter. His athleticism should start falling off shortly. Time will tell if he can adapt his game with age, but he doesn't have a dominant post game at the moment. He will be very good for years to come, but Superstar? The Bulls, on the other hand, are very young, and the one piece that is older - Carlos Boozer - doesn't lose much with age.

3) Coaching. The Bulls have Tom Thibodeau who is cut in the Popovich/Sloan mold. I don't think the Bulls will ever be "bad" under Thibs. He will get the most out of whatever talent he has, and our talent looks pretty damn good for the next few years, especially if we can add more wing scoring. The same CANNOT be said for Spoelstra.

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Wade has been a superstar since his 3rd year in the league. I don't see how he won't go down easily as one of the best of his era. I'm not anticipating a dropped any time soon. I agree with the rest of your post. Everything about thibs and rose suggests this as solid a player/coach foundation as we've seen

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Wade is most definitely one of the best of his era. It hurt his legacy that he was drafted the same year as Lebron and played a lot of his career as the 2nd best two-guard in the NBA next to Kobe.

I just don't know how much longer he can have 40-point outbursts. Wade plays a lot bigger than he is, but he relies a lot on athleticism, even to this day. A lot of his points come at the FT line, and his career 3-pt % is less than 30%. Like I said, he will be very good for a long time, but we will see if he can adjust his game to remain a superstar when he loses 4-5" on his vertical and half a step on his penetration.

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Miami is certainly playing well this post-season, however Boston gave them everything they could handle for every game of the series. I see Chicago's defense as being substantially better than any team Miami has seen the remainder of the season (obviously, considering their defensive ranking).

Yeah but points aren't really a barometer of anything. Thats 1 of a doze different things wade excels at. Remember to factor in his college when predicting a drop off. He's such a smart, extremely talented player that his decline is much more
To be very slow and steady ala Kobe instead of the collapse of tmac we saw.

Instead of seeing guys like him and rose to be like inversion I envision more of a Kobe career in terms of production, if not accomplishments and accolades. Iverson is one of my favorite players ever but the guy didnt like to practice, I don't think. Preparation, intelligence, and motivation are important factors in a players longevity

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Stern wants this to go 7 ....so be it. The key is stop Wade and make LeBron be the man which he seems he can not be.If the Heat win it will really dispell the importance of coaching in the NBA. In order for the Bulls to win there bench needs to play well,not just one game but every game. Noah and Booze have to do what they are paid to do. I hope Rose doesn't have to do it all or they're in trouble

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I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

I believe Deng will play a major role in the Bulls winning this series. He always seems to bring a little bit more when going up against LeBron. I think this series will come down to can Rose be better than Wade. If the answer to that question is yes then the Bulls will win.

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I hope it's that simple but I doubt it will be. Deng does play lebron tough but like you always say let's not forget who has the most physical talent. I think the key sill be shutting down jones and the rest of the shooters, specifically in Miami. I'm not worried about bosh at all. Boozer needs to stop being a bitch and to your point rose will specifically need to match wades defensive level in this series

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I think the key in this series will be points, whoever scores the most of them will win.

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You never miss your wealth, till your well went dry
Seem like only yesterday, you were here smiling
Now you gone away, but I know you in a better place
No traces of you, what can I do?
Alone and confused

Playing the pick and roll well and forcing LeBron and Wade to be jump shooters will be key. Defensively Rose doesn't have to outplay Wade because he will be guarding Bibby and Chalmers. Offensively he will. If Wade averages below 25 ppg for the series the Bulls will win. Defensively Brewer and Bogans will be very important.

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