The pressure is on the Bulls
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by user Leslie Monteiro
The Bulls have become everyone's chic pick as a team that can go the NBA Finals. They are being talked about after the way they dismantled the Heat in all 4 games.
Chicago has been very cocky last week as they have been talking about what they are going to do against the Pistons. In Game 1 Saturday night, the Pistons showed the road team what was up.
The Bulls learned that it is not going easy as they thought it was.
Game 2 is tonight and for them to win the series, they have to get win tonight. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
The best opportunity for a team to win on the road is Game 1 or 2 because it gets harder to win on the road in Game 5 or 7.
Championship teams have a short memory after a bad game and they normally respond with a great game and a win. It will be interesting if the Bulls can do that.
There is a list of things that the Bulls have to do in evening the series.
Kirk Hinrich has to set the tone for the Bulls to win this game. He got outplayed and he was soft as as tissue on Saturday night.
He was not assertive on both sides of the ball. He just could not run the offense.
He sure did not seem proactive in making things happen such as scoring his points in the paint or finding his open guy. He has to get his guys involved.
Andres Nocioni is another player that has to get it going. For a guy that did so much talking, he came up very small.
He has been lauded for being tough, but he was no where close to that description in Game 1. He got beaten at will by the Pistons bench players.
He looked like he never played a basketball game out there. Where was the defense? How come he was not being physical?
Ben Gordon can not start taking dumb fouls like he did in this game. He has just has to find a way to get to the rack and stop taking silly jumpers.
The whole team need to make plays on defense.
The defense has been the foundation of this team's success. For whatever reason, they gave up easy layups out there and they just wilted in the end.
This can not happen anymore in this series especially against a great Pistons team.
Give the Pistons credit for playing a very good game. It was very clear that they played like they had something to prove to the Bulls, who basically have disrespected them all season.
With that said, the Bulls know that they did so many things wrong and they know they have to play 48 minutes against a very good team.
It will be interesting how they respond tonight. Smart money says that they play well and make the Pistons sweat for a win.
If this becomes a 2-0 series lead by the Pistons, there is no way the Bulls will recover from this.
It will be tough hill to climb considering the Pistons are a very good home team and they pounce on teams when they smell blood. The Pistons can only gain confidence in themselves against the Bulls if they can pull out another win tonight.
The Bulls should be the team who has something to prove tonight.
They are getting what they deserve.
Did they seriously expected Detroit just roll over and have it easy? I know they dominated Detroit, but the last thing you need is to give Detroit any motivation. You can tell Detroit wants to embarass Chicago in the playoffs. It has showed here.
This series is over.
This will end in 4. Write that down.