Noah a Model Citizen

Say what you will about Joakim Noah's performance this year, especially during the playoffs, but there's been no denying he's grown into a model person.  In fact, the Professional Basketball Writers Association decided it was time to honor him for it.  Noah has won this year's J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award for his "outstanding service and dedication to the community."  It's the first time a Bull has won the award, which goes back to 1975.

Noah's most prominent involvement with the community is his Noah's Arc Foundation, which helps children develop a stronger sense of self.  They recently launched an anti-violence initiative called Rock Your Drop:  The Drop of Consciousness.  It lets young people know it's better to express themselves through sports and art than picking up violent habits.

This award shows how far Noah has come from the guy who used to bring out hand pistols after making a great play, usually when hitting a big shot.  The Sandy Hook shooting made him realize it's not okay to simulate guns, especially in a city with a big gun problem like Chicago.  Now, he's making anti-violence videos and setting up youth basketball tournaments.  That's a man you want on your team.

We can't avoid talking about how his knee surgery has affected his play.  Many are speculating that at age 30, he's at the point where it will bother him for the rest of his career.  His time in the NBA might even be shortened by it.  Still, there's no way the Bulls would be in their current position with his leadership.

His teammates and coaches thrive off how he opens himself up emotionally.  Everyone else thrives off his concern that young people will grow up to have a full and happy life.  Regardless of the player, you have to admire the person.  Wherever he goes after basketball is sure to be a good place because he's creating many potential opportunities for himself.

If he plays a key role in Game 6 on Thursday, that could mean great things for the Bulls.  Until then, congrats to Jo.  He definitely deserved this.

Good Enough Isn't

Give the Bulls credit for not giving up in Game 5, even as the situation looked bleak.  They trailed by 17 in the fourth quarter before eventually drawing to within two with 1:17 left.  However, they just couldn't get that one more basket needed to pull in front and Joakim Noah's bad pass late sealed the deal.  The Cavaliers had a 106-101 win and a 3-2 series lead.

Pau Gasol's hamstring wouldn't let him play and Taj Gibson was ejected early in the fourth for kicking Matthew Dellavedova.  That forced the Bulls to go small down the stretch and they lost out on rebounds that could have made a difference.  With the defense already in an off year, we should have known better than to raise our expectations during such a key time.  Then again, those are the unpredictable Bulls for you.

LeBron James came out swinging and finished with a line you wouldn't believe:  38 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, three steals and three blocks.  It was yet another reminder of how he's the game's most complete player.  Kyrie Irving, playing on one leg, scored 25 in a display that mainly showed he can still shoot with a bad knee.

All five Bulls starters scored in double figures, led by Jimmy Butler's 29.  Mike Dunleavy recovered nicely from a bad Game 4 with 19 and Derrick Rose scored 16.  Butler, Rose and Noah tried to make up for Gasol's absence with nine rebounds apiece.  That, along with shooting 92.9 percent from the free-throw line, should have been enough, but having James in the wrong uniform proved costly.

Despite being in the game most of the way, it felt by the end like the grind-it-out Bulls of years past than the contending Bulls of this season.  With Gasol out of action and Rose and Butler not getting enough help from elsewhere, it felt like there was some sort of disadvantage.  What exactly that was isn't entirely clear, but it might have to do with how inconsistent the team has been all year.

Losing rebounding battles, missing on offense and turning the ball over are why the Bulls can't find the right formula that will push them past the Cavaliers.  All those things have happened against lesser teams and now, a wounded opponent has pushed them to the brink.  The opportunities keep coming and the Bulls, for some reason, aren't pouncing on them.  Hopefully for our sake, it's a reflection on ability and not will.

The Bulls need to win Game 6 in Chicago on Thursday to keep their season alive.  If they can do that, there's the tall order of taking Game 7 in Cleveland on Sunday.  Until that happens, the failure to grab Game 4 will be the lasting image of one of the greatest what-ifs in team history.  They can only take it one game at a time though and right now, the focus is on not letting the United Center crowd leave with a feeling of finality.

Boo, Baby

I'm really hoping the above image isn't the defining one of this series.  Otherwise, the Bulls will be left to wonder what could have been.  Derrick Rose's buzzer beater in Game 3 was offset in Game 4 when LeBron James had his own.  With the 86-84 win, the Cavaliers avoided a 3-1 series deficit and instead, have tied the series at 2.

Let's ignore how the Cavaliers got a free timeout right before the winning shot so the officials could determine how much time is left.  Let's also ignore how David Blatt almost called a timeout he didn't have right before that, which could have given the Bulls free throws and possession.  Those are all excuses.

The reality is the Bulls' inconsistent offense came back to bite them once again.  Cleveland scored 16 unanswered points in the second quarter to make what had been an eight-point Bulls lead one of their own.  The Bulls led by 11 late in the third quarter and seven going into the fourth.  They hit a wall once again and the Cavaliers were only happy to take advantage.

It didn't help that Pau Gasol was out of the lineup with a strained hamstring.  Perhaps he could have made the difference.  Then, you remember how the Bulls seemed to be doing just fine without him for much of the game.  Gasol or no Gasol, this team couldn't seal the deal.

This is one you can't blame Rose for, try as some of you might.  He led all scorers with 31 points and took a charge from James, who twisted his ankle on the play.  As we've expected for a long time, his play lifts the Bulls to new heights.  But basketball is a team sport and most of the time, you need your supporting cast to step in.

The biggest culprit on offense was compliments of the Bulls' bigs.  Taj Gibson, Mike Dunleavy, Joakim Noah and Nikola Mirotic shot a combined 8-for-35 from the field (22.9 percent).  Whether they couldn't find their games or the Cavaliers' defense was forcing the issue, a group effort like that is inexcusable.  Rose and Jimmy Butler can't do all the scoring, so you need to play smart and play well.

At this point in the season, we shouldn't be questioning which Bulls team is going to show up.  It's not good if we still have to guess whether the dominant Bulls or the feast-or-famine Bulls are going to show up.  You don't get to the Finals by defining yourself as having a split personality.  Teams with better talent and terrific execution will make you pay.

It's a best-of-3 series now, but the Bulls have lost the home-court advantage they stole.  Having to win one more game in Cleveland was never going to be easy and now, they're faced with it.  The Cavaliers simply don't go down easily at home, especially when they have the best player in the world on their side.  It's cliche to say the Bulls are walking into a lion's den, but that's the best way to put it.

Game 5 on Tuesday is critical.  Historically, the Bulls have never lost the tiebreaker in a 2-2 series and gone on to win it.  If anybody goes into that game not 110 percent ready, Tom Thibodeau needs to stick them on the bench and keep them there.  Where the franchise goes from here could hinge on the game's outcome.

It's absolutely amazing how one shot can change the complexion and possibly the course of a series.  James played John Stockton to Rose's Eddie Johnson like in the 1997 Western Conference Finals.  Now, we fans are very apprehensive going forward.  But the players are professionals and their mentality is just one reason why they've gotten to this level and we're watching in the seats.

Boom, Baby!

I just screamed the loudest I've screamed after a Bulls game in years.  Game 6 of the 2009 series vs. the Celtics comes close, but really, I'd have to go back to their last championship to think of a real comparison.  In Game 3, Derrick Rose showed he was Derrick Rose when it mattered the most.  A banking 3-pointer from him at the buzzer gave the Bulls a 99-96 win and a 2-1 series lead on the Cavaliers.

The excitement happened despite many attempts by some who were looking to make the path easier for Cleveland, especially LeBron James.  There were at least two instances in the final minute when he made contact with Bulls players, but no foul was called.  Had the game been called a little more closely, perhaps J.R. Smith's game-tying three doesn't force Rose to play hero ball at the end.  Still, I would have just pointed to the Bulls' flaws instead had they lost.

Rose's winner gave him his only trey and a game-high 30 points.  Though he made nine of his 10 free throws, the one miss came late in the fourth and could have proved costly.  But his constant driving left no doubt that he wants this series he's been waiting for since the end of the 2011 conference finals.  He's going to do whatever it takes to will the Bulls to win this series or die trying.

Jimmy Butler scored 20 and had five steals in 44 minutes, showing how he and Rose are content to switch the 1 and 1a roles on this team.  Mike Dunleavy hit three from downtown to finish with 16.  Tom Thibodeau finally decided to let Nikola Mirotic play in this series (though his hand may have been forced; more on that in a bit) and it paid off with 12 points and eight rebounds.  Taj Gibson was a point and a rebound from reaching a double-double, but he settled for nines in both categories.

There were two bad things to take away from this.  Despite 11 rebounds, Joakim Noah continued his ineffectiveness on offense with only four points on 1-of-8 shooting.  Pau Gasol strained his left hamstring and didn't return.  Fortunately, neither proved costly on this night.

It's going to take just a little bit more from Rose to fully convince us he's come all the way back.  However, he took a major step in the right direction with one shot.  His play has been terrific for the most part.  It's those bad games in between that make us question whether his MVP level has returned.

The shot represents everything we love to think about when Rose comes to mind.  We've seen him come through in the clutch time and again during the regular season.  Until now, he hadn't delivered in such a way during the postseason.  True, he hasn't had many chances recently, but the mere lack of this shot was enough for some to criticize his playoff play.

This is a different Rose from the one who was MVP.  He doesn't need to take control all the time because he has teammates who can play offense.  You have to love an unselfish star.  Still, there are times when he must be the leader and he picked a great time to do it.

If we're lucky, this is just one of many major Rose moments in these playoffs.  Any of the key Bulls can step up and be the hero, but Rose is the one everybody has eyes on.  He's either the best player on the team or a liability with stubborn tendencies.  It comes with the territory he and his camp have created, but let's not worry about that now.

Game 4 is Sunday afternoon and the United Center is sure to be ready just as it was in Game 3.  Being up 2-1 will do that to you.  They just have to be aware James will be in beast mode from the beginning so the Cavaliers won't return to Cleveland on the brink.  But if Rose has something to say about it, tying the series won't be so easy.

Band Aid for Cleveland

Okay, so maybe LeBron James wearing his headband in Game 2 for the first time since March is too silly of a narrative.  It's still a narrative nonetheless and one many people want to eat up.  That's especially true after James scored 14 of his game-high 33 points in the first quarter.  It set the tone for a 106-91 Cavaliers victory.

In a classic role reversal, Cleveland led this entire contest just as the Bulls did in Game 1.  Not only did James come out swinging, but he had plenty of help.  Kyrie Irving played the rightful sidekick role with 21 points.  Nine total 3-pointers came from Iman Shumpert and James "Where Did He Come From" Jones.

Meanwhile, no Bull reached the 20-point mark.  Jimmy Butler, just named the NBA's Most Improved Player, was the team's leading scorer with 18 points.  Derrick Rose achieved a double-double of 14 points and 10 assists.  Together, their shooting left something to be desired at 11-for-34 (32.4 percent).

It was pretty difficult to imagine Game 2 playing out any other way.  People should have known James would come out with a vengeance.  He can turn in on whenever he wants and any team he's playing at that time is in trouble.  When he gets assistance from his supporting cast, the Cavaliers are as dangerous as anybody.

Meanwhile, the Bulls can only shrug it off and wonder how prepared for this game they actually were.  The turnovers showed up again and their best players weren't shooting successfully at a decent rate.  All of that must change if they want to get out of the series.  We keep thinking this will correct itself, but we've seen far too much evidence to the contrary for our liking.

The good news is the Bulls still have home-court advantage.  They can first use it in Game 3 Friday at the United Center.  Hopefully, the crowd will be rowdier than they were throughout the Milwaukee series.  More importantly, let's hope the Bulls can feed off that energy.

We've Seen This Before

The Bulls and their fans rightfully feel good after beating the Cavaliers 99-92 in Game 1 and taking home-court advantage.  It was a game in which they never trailed, a first for a LeBron James playoff opponent on the road, and three starters scored at least 20 points, led by Derrick Rose's 25.  Even though the Cavaliers still had a chance down by six with 30 seconds left, Jimmy Butler's banker was enough to convince the Quicken Loans Arena crowd no victory was coming, so they started leaving.  All in all, the night was a success for most people in Chicago.

So why shouldn't everyone be so pumped up?  The Cavaliers are missing Kevin Love, J.R. Smith is suspended for Game 2 and the Bulls are proving to have more depth right now.  Plus, James doesn't have the offensive sidekicks he did in Miami and in Game 1, he often looked uncharacteristically passive.  Why shouldn't plans for the conference finals be made already?

The simple answer is the Bulls had impressive Game 1 wins each of the previous two times they played a James team in the playoffs.  Both times, his Heat romped through the Bulls in each of the next four games.  Who are we to say this won't happen again?  James is the best player in the NBA and will do anything to get his team to the next level, even if he has to do it himself.

Let's go back to when the Bulls were the undisputed team the beat.  They lost Game 1 of the 1991 and 1998 NBA Finals, but recovered nicely.  Or, if you want to relate to the conference semifinals, the Knicks shocked the Bulls at Chicago Stadium in 1992.  That turned into an epic seven-game series, which the Bulls won.

Of course, these Bulls and the current state of the Cavaliers are different right now.  Derrick Rose is back and rediscovering his game, Jimmy Butler is playing the best basketball of his life and Pau Gasol is exactly the playoff veteran the Bulls have needed for some time.  Without Love, James must get more help from Kyrie Irving, who's not exactly playoff tested.  Conditions seems to be right for the Bulls to advance.

But the playoffs are pretty funny.  They can lure you into a false sense of confidence before it shoves reality right back in your face.  Bulls fans have done this with James before and the Bucks might have done it when they won two straight in the last series.  You know what happened in all those instances.

Those good feelings can be dangerous, especially when you have to wait two days for the next game to arrive.  That's a lot of time for someone to think positively enough that you're convinced everything's going to be all right.  Conversely, a fan of a team that just lost can let in the kind of doubt that says the season's over.  I feel sorry for those in Cleveland who feel this way right now when they're trying to see their first major sports championship in over half a century.

There's nothing wrong with enjoying the moment.  After all, that optimism is often what keeps us going as fans.  Just know that a down comes with an up most of the time.  Championship dreams today can turn into draft and free agency thoughts tomorrow.

Still, this is the best chance these Bulls will have at reaching the Finals, or at least defeating James.  The 2011 team went to the conference finals, but proved it didn't really have the talent, depth or experience to play for that seventh championship.  Today, the Bulls are improved in all those areas.  The Cavaliers are weaker than what they thought they'd be during the playoffs, but a win would still be a win, even if we'd rather see it with Love in the lineup.

Game 2 comes Wednesday in Cleveland.  James will be ready to prove Game 1 was just a fluke.  If the Bulls aren't prepared enough, everything is bound to get out of hand in a hurry.  They taught this to the Bucks when they closed them out and the tables can just as quickly turn.

Enough's Enough and Craving Cleveland

Maybe the Bulls were angry at themselves over their previous two games.  Maybe they wanted to give something back to the Bucks fans who celebrated with confetti after Game 4.  Whatever the reason, the Bulls used Game 6 to unleash a tidal wave on the Bucks which spared nothing.  Their 120-66 win not only advanced them to the second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but brought them within four points of the largest NBA playoff win of all-time (Minneapolis beat St. Louis 133-75 in 1956).

Led by Mike Dunleavy's 20 points, every Bulls starter scored in double figures and every active player made at least one field goal.  Every Buck scored too, but their leading scorer, Zaza Pachulia, scored just eight.  Milwaukee totaled only 25 field goals in a display teams often showed against the 90s Bulls.  If the Bulls hadn't jumped right out of the gate to take complete control, you could probably blame that team a little more, but it simply had no chance from the opening tip.

If there was anything to criticize from the Bulls' perspective, it might be Dunleavy's behavior.  He got a little physical with Michael Carter-Williams early in the game and Giannis Antetokounmpo later responded by issuing a hard foul on Dunleavy.  The officials sent the young Greek star to the locker room after ruling the foul a flagrant 2.  Dunleavy and Carter-Williams tangled again later and fortunately, Adrian Wojnarowski said in an interview he does not believe Dunleavy will be punished for his role in all this.

So now, we get the playoff matchup we've wanted to see all year.  For the fourth time this decade, the Bulls will face a LeBron James team.  The best player in the NBA back in Cleveland, hungry to bring a major championship to a city that hasn't seen one since the 1964 Browns.  And with the Cavaliers having won three of the four meetings this season, they're the clear favorites, right?

Well, had it not been for some consequences of their first-round clincher over Boston, we might have been more inclined to say the Cavaliers will have it easier.  Kevin Love is out for the rest of the playoffs after Kelly Olynyk yanked out his shoulder while chasing the ball, forcing the big man to have surgery.  In that same game, J.R. Smith punched Jae Crowder, suspending him for two games.  Suddenly, the conference finals aren't so certain.

That somewhat complicates how to match up the probable starting lineups.  It also serves as a reminder that losing any major NBA player to injury during the playoffs kind of waters down the competition.  You want your team to win and will take any help you can get, but it's more satisfying when you're able to beat the competition at full strength.  Otherwise, any victory feels kind of hollow.

The most intriguing match-up is clearly at point guard with Derrick Rose and Kyrie Irving, both of whom have high value to their teams.  Rose showed in the Bucks series that the Bulls live and die with him, so he has to be close to his MVP form if his club is going to have any chance.  Irving, a fellow top draft pick, is younger, more athletic, able to score and pass and very closely resembles the Rose that won the MVP award four years ago.  Based on talent and current state, I have to give Irving the edge.

Jimmy Butler continues to make strides at shooting guard and everyone knows it.  His scoring and defense make him perhaps the most complete player on the Bulls.  J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert both came from New York in a trade and between the two, Smith is the better scorer while Shumpert is the better rebounder.  But in the big picture, Butler brings greater value to the Bulls than either Smith or Shumpert do to the Cavaliers, so the All-Star matches up better than either role player.

Dunleavy has been lightning in a bottle at small forward during the playoffs.  He often thrives on the long ball, provides veteran leadership and as we saw in the last game, can serve as an agitator.  Even so, everyone and their mom knows James is the prototype for today's NBA with his scoring, passing defense and athleticism.  I may be a Bulls fan, but I would have to consider myself deluded not to say James wins at this position.

Pau Gasol has played like the playoff veteran the Bulls were hoping for when they signed him.  Maybe the defense continues to lack, but without his scoring and rebounding, the Bulls would be in a different place.  Tristan Thompson should start in place of Love at power forward and if nothing else, he can balance out his own scoring and rebounding just as well.  Still, he doesn't pack quite the punch or has the playoff experience Gasol does, so the Spaniard gets the advantage here for those as well as talent.

Joakim Noah may not be having the greatest season of his career, but he still has games where he makes himself known on the boards.  If he can somehow find another wind as we get further into the playoffs, nobody will talk about the injury issues he's had this year.  Ever since Timofey Mozgov was acquired from Denver, he's changed the Cavaliers for the better and has become better himself.  He finished the season with career highs in scoring, rebounding and shooting, which means the advantage in the middle goes to him.

The two coaches in this series are under tremendous pressure.  For either Tom Thibodeau or David Blatt, a loss means their respective franchise goes off in a different direction one way or another.  Thibodeau, with his hard-nosed stubborn style, might be sent packing.  Blatt, whose relationship with his best players improves with how he lets them handle strategy themselves, could face a less talented roster next year if Love opts out of his contract.  I'm going to declare a draw here because each of their style works and we're about to see which one works better, especially with the field somewhat leveled by Love's injury.

I'm picking the Cavaliers in six.  The Bulls have to prove they can compete with James and history shows they haven't been able to.  Having home-court advantage also helps the Cavaliers as well as their younger, arguably more talented leaders.  Love may be hurt and Smith may be suspended, but there's still a lot of players who can step in and fill the empty roles, even if they can't do it as well as those who were there before.

If the Bulls are to upset Cleveland, they must crack down on defense and get everybody involved without putting too much pressure on the starting lineup.  Cleveland is one of the few teams the Bulls took seriously in every single meeting this year, so hopefully, that won't be an issue in this series.  The last game against Milwaukee showed what happens with this team if they get the right fire lit under them.  Granted, the Cavaliers have more key players than the Bucks, but that the Bulls have the potential to dominate a playoff game has to instill confidence in both the players and fans going forward.

Game 1 will be played in Cleveland on Monday.  The Cavaliers' 31-10 record at Quicken Loans Arena was the second best in the East during the regular season.  The easy solution for the Bulls is to get out to a fast start and take the crowd out of the game early.  Of course, what sounds easy on paper can be more difficult in execution, so we could be looking at a tall order either way.