The Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat had a great series in the playoffs last season, but now the Bulls have added Ben Wallace and Dwyane Wade comes into the series a little gimpy. This should be a great series and here’s a closer look at how the matchups break down:

Point Guard: Kirk Hinrich is the starting point guard for the Bulls and he’s more of a combo guard as he can score in bunches. Jason “White Chocolate” Williams had an off year due to knee problems for the Heat. Hinrich averaged 16.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game this season. He is really the #2 or #3 option on offense behind Ben Gordon and Luol Deng. Hinrich is a good shooter that will help the Bulls stretch the Heat’s defense. Jason Williams also is not a pure point guard as he averaged 10.9 points, 2.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game this season. He also is a good shooter from the perimeter. EDGE: BULLS

Shooting Guard: If Dwyane Wade wasn’t playing with an injured shoulder, this would be a huge edge for the Heat. But, he’s gimpy with his bad shoulder and looks un-willing to take the basketball to the hole which takes away his best weapon as a basketball player. He averaged 27.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game this season, but his numbers have been way down since his return from a dislocated left shoulder. Ben Gordon of the Bulls will give Wade fits on defense as he’s just a great offensive basketball player. He can go long range with his shot or he has a good middle-range game just like Richard Hamilton does. Gordon averaged 21.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. He’s likely to have a huge series against the Heat. EDGE: SLIGHT BULLS

SMALL FORWARD: The Bulls’ Luol Deng is a player on the rise. He averaged 18.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game this season. He’s an excellent athlete who excels in the open court and he always hustles which leads to some easy baskets for him. The Heat are going to start Eddie Jones at small forward because of his defense and long range shooting. He averaged 7.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. EDGE: BULLS

POWER FORWARD: Udonis Haslem is a player that brings his hard hat to the court and does the dirty work as he plays good defense and is a solid rebounder. Haslem averaged 10.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Veteran P.J. Brown will start for the Bulls in this series. He averaged 6.1 points, 4.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. Look for Brown to rebound well and give Dwyane Wade a few hard fouls in this series. EDGE: HEAT

CENTER: Shaquille O’Neal knows that it’s now SHOWTIME. Look for him to flip the switch and still show why he’s the best center in the NBA. During the regular season O’Neal averaged 17.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Look for O’Neal to have better numbers than that in this series as he will throw his weight around in the key. Ben Wallace won’t back down from Shaq in the paint. He averaged 6.4 points, 10.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game this season. Wallace is the ultimate hustle player and his energy rubs off on his teammates.  EDGE: HEAT

BENCH: The Miami Heat have a real deep bench and they will get to play a lot in this series. Jason Kapono is the 3-point gunner on the Heat as he started about half of the season. He averaged 10.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game this season. Antoine Walker is a player that the Heat will need to play well if they’re going to beat the Bulls. He only averaged 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game this season. If motivated, he can still carry a team in short spurts on offense. Alonzo Mourning is also a key in this series as he provides energy, defense and rebounding off of the bench. He averaged 8.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game this season. James Posey was a key in the Heat’s championship run of last season. Posey averaged 7.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game last season. The Heat will need his outside shooting off of the bench. Gary Payton had an awful season but he’ll likely get some minutes in this series to give White Chocolate a break once in a while. He only averaged 5.3 points, 1.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this season.

The Bulls bench will also be important in this series. Andres Nocioni is finally healthy and he’ll probably get starters minutes at power forward for the Bulls. He brings incredible energy to the court and it rubs of on his teammates. He averaged 14.1 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Chris Duhon will back up both Hinrich and Gordon as he can play either guard position. He averaged 7.2 points, 2.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game this season. Rookie Tyrus Thomas will cause problems for the Heat when he’s on the court because of his immense athletic ability. He averaged 5.2 points, 3.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Reserve guard Adrian Griffin could also play an important role as he’s a good defender who does the little things well on the court. He only averaged 2.5 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game this season. EDGE: HEAT

PREDICTION:Â I like the Bulls to beat the Heat in 6 games because the Heat is a little to banged up, unmotivated and old to hang with the younger Bulls.

The grade could have been higher if the Bulls would have let their rookies play more, but no one can argue with the results the Bulls had by playing their veteran players over the rookies. Tyrus Thomas has big-time athletic ability, now he just needs his game to catch up. He played in 72 games last season and he averaged 13.4 minutes, 5.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.1 blocks per game. It’s possible that if his game matures that he could be the starting power forward for the Bulls next season. Thabo Sefolosha (G/F) played in 71 games this season and he averaged 3.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Sefolosha will likely be a key reserve for the Bulls next season.

The Chicago Bulls finished in 3rd place in the Central Division with a 49-33 record, 4 games behind the Pistons. The Bulls were excellent at home with a 31-10 record, but they were only 18-23 on the road. The Bulls dominated the Eastern Conference with a 36-16 record in it and they had the best record against Division teams as they were 12-4. They averaged 98.8 points while allowing only 93.8. The Bulls go into the playoffs having won 7 of their last 10 games.

The Chicago Bulls might need to win Wednesday’s finale at New Jersey to hold the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference and avoid a first round matchup with the Miami Heat. The Cavaliers have two games left (tonight against the Sixers in Philly, and Wednesday at home against the Bucks). If the Cavs lose tonight to the Sixers the Bulls will be able to rest some of their regulars tomorrow night as they will have wrapped up the #2 seed in the East. But, it’s entirely possible that the Cavs win both of those games and that would mean that the Nets would have to win tomorrow’s game at New Jersey. The Bulls hold the tiebreaker with the Cavs who are a 1/2 game behind the Bulls. Still, the Bulls are very hot as they have won 8 of their last 10 games and their last 3 in a row.Â

With Ben Wallace a little bit nicked up the last two weeks the Bulls needed someone to step up and Tyrus Thomas has. He has played in 5 games the last two weeks and he’s averaged 13.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. He also is shooting an amazing 61% from the floor in those 5 games. The Bulls have been waiting for Thomas to mature as a player to take advantage of his outstanding athletic ability and it seems like he’s finally starting to get it.