The Chicago Bulls made short work, although the games were far from easy against the pesky Pacers in the first round.  The Hawks took out the favored Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs.  The matchups are most closer in this series than most people think they are, so this is likely to be a very exciting series.  Here’s how I see the matchups in this series:

POINT GUARD:  Derrick Rose is the likely MVP of the NBA this year.  He was outstanding in the first two games against the Pacers but he had issues shooting the ball in the last three games.  Rose is only shooting 37.1% from the floor during the playoffs and he was 8 for 37 (21.6%) shooting from behind the three point line.  The Bulls would be better off if Rose didn’t try many 3-pointers in this series.  Rose has played in 5 games (all starts) in the playoffs so far this year and he is averaging 38.8 minutes, 27.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 2.6 steals and 1.2 blocked shots per game.

Kirk Hinrich started  his career with the Chicago Bulls, so he’ll likely want to stick it to them.  Hinrich has played in 6 games (all starts) in the playoffs so far for the Hawks and he is averaging 28.8 minutes, 10.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game.  He’s a little banged up as his ankle is giving him some issues.  The Hawks need Hinrich to have a good offensive series to make Derrick Rose have to play hard on defense.

EDGE:  HUGE FOR THE BULLS

SHOOTING GUARD:  Keith Bogans had one good game against the Pacers in the first round of the playoffs.  He played in 5 games (all starts) in the playoffs so far and he is averaging 19.4 minutes, 5.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.  Bogans just plays defense and gets out of the other players’ way on offense.  He will have to play solid D against Joe Johnson or the Hawks are going to have a huge edge here.

Joe Johnson runs a little hot and cold as he only shot 39.6% from the floor against the Magic.  He played in 6 games (all starts) against the Magic and he averaged 41.2 minutes, 18.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game.  I have a feeling that Johnson is going to have a really solid series against the Bulls.

EDGE:  HUGE FOR HAWKS

SMALL FORWARD:  Luol Deng is one of the best kept secrets in the NBA.  He plays hard at both ends of the court as he’s one of the best all-around players the Bulls have.  He’s got a challenge on his hands because Josh Smith also plays hard on both ends of the court.  Deng played in 5 games (all starts) against the Pacers and he averaged 42.4 minutes, 18.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. 

Josh Smith is one of the most underrated players in the NBA and he will have the big stage to show off his skills against the Bulls.  Smith played in 6 games (all starts) against the Magic and he averaged 34.3 minutes, 14.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game.  The Hawks need Smith to have a good series if they are going to pull an upset here and knock out the Bulls.

EDGE:  VERY SLIGHT FOR THE HAWKS

POWER FORWARD:  Carlos Boozer had a pretty disappointing series against the Pacers as he only shot 35.8% from the floor and he was in foul trouble a lot.  He’s going to have to pick up the pace in this series as Al Horford is going to be looking him right in the eyes quite a bit.  Boozer played in 5 games (all starts) against the Pacers in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 30.4  minutes, 10.0 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.

Al Horford is going to have his hands full inside against the Bulls.  But, he rose to the challenge against the Magic as he stood toe to toe with Dwight Howard a few times.  Horford played in 6 games (all starts) against the Magic in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 39.8 minutes, 12.0 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game. 

EDGE:  EVEN

CENTER:  Joakim Noah is going to be big for the Bulls in this series as they need to control the boards and the paint to beat the Hawks.  Noah played in 5 games (all starts) for the Bulls against the Pacers in which he averaged 32.0 minutes, 12.0 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steal and 2.6 blocked shots per game.  Noah is going to give the Hawks fits at both ends of the court.

Jason Collins will be on the court for the Hawks to use his six fouls and little more as he doesn’t add much to the team.  Collins played in 6 games (all starts) against the Magic and he averaged 17.2 minutes, 1.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.  Not much to see here.

EDGE:  GIGANTIC FOR THE BULLS

BENCH:  Kyle Korver is the main man off the bench for the Bulls.  He shot 10 of 17 (58.8%) from three-point range as he was an assassin off the bench for the Bulls against the Pacers.  Korver played in 5 games (0 starts) for the Bulls in the first round of playoffs and he averaged 21.4 minutes, 10.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.  Taj Gibson will likely be the top backup big for the Bulls in this series.  Gibson played in 5 games (0 starts) against the Pacers and he averaged 18.2 minutes, 4.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game.  Veteran center Kurt Thomas will give Joakim Noah a break whenever he needs one.  Thomas played in 4 games (0 starts) against the Pacers and he averaged 11.8 minutes, 3.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.  C.J. Watson will give Derrick Rose a breather when he needs one.  Watson has played in 5 games (0 starts) against the Pacers and he averaged 9.6 minutes, 3.4 points, 0.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.  SG Ronnie Brewer (2.4 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.0 assist) and rookie center Omer Asik (0.4 points and 1.6 rebounds) each played in all five games in the first round for the Bulls, but quite sparingly.

Jamal Crawford is likely going to see more P.T. than he did in the first round of the playoffs with Kirk Hinrich being a little gimpy.  Crawford is also an ex-Bull, so he’s going to be more motivated than usual.  Crawford played in 6 games (0 starts) against the Magic in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 29.8 minutes, 20.5 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.  Crawford hit 17 of 37 (45.9%) shots from three-point range against the Magic.  Backup forward Marvin Williams could also see more P.T. than he got in the first round of the playoffs against the Magic.  Williams played in 6 games (0 starts) against the Magic and he averaged 18.0 minutes, 6.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, 0.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game.  Williams shot 54.2% from the floor against the Magic.  Center Zaza Pachulia will likely get his fair share of P.T. to throw some muscle around in the paint against the Bulls.  He played in 5 games (0 starts) against the Magic and he averaged 19.6 minutes, 2.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.  With Kirk Hinrich a bit gimpy right now, the Hawks may take young guard Jeff Teague out of mothballs for this series.  Teague played in 2 games (0 starts) against the Magic in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 4.5 minutes, 2.5 points and 1.5 assists per game.  PF Josh Powell (1.2 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.2 assists) and C Hilton Armstrong (0.3 points and 0.8 rebounds) could also get some P.T. in this series.

EDGE:  SLIGHT FOR HAWKS

COACHING:  Tom Thibodeau is a defensive minded coach and he did pretty well in the Bulls’ first series as he led them to a 4-1 win.  It was Thibodeau’s first playoff series as a head coach and the Bulls looked solid.

Larry Drew led the Hawks to a nice upset over the Magic, as he proved himself in that series.  Like Thibodeau, this was Drew’s first playoff series as a head coach, so he’s 4-2.

EDGE:  EVEN

PREDICTION:  I think the Hawks are going to win a couple of home games but the Bulls are the better team.  With that in mind, I like the Bulls to win this series in six games.

The Bulls played great defense last night as they held the Pacers to 39.2% from the floor!  Derrick Rose (25 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots) and Luol Deng (24 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and 1 blocked shot) led the way for the Bulls last night.  Keith Bogans (15 points, 5 of 7 from 3-pt. range), Joakim Noah (14 points), Kyle Korver (13 points) and Taj Gibson (10 points) also pitched in for the Bulls last night.  The Bulls finished off the Pacers 4-1 in this series, but it wasn’t easy.  Now they will rest up and wait for the Hawks or Magic.

Backup SF/SG Kyle Korver has been electric against the Pacers in the first round of the playoffs.  He has played in 4 games (0 starts) for the Bulls so far in this series and he is averaging 21.3 minutes, 9.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.  Korver is shooting 56% from the floor in this series and he is 8 for 10 (80%) from three point range, as he has been amazing.  It amazes me that the Pacers aren’t getting in Korver’s face, and they will continue to pay for it.

The Bulls only shot 37.8% from the floor and they really didn’t show much heart until the last 4-5 minutes of the game when they finally woke up…but it was too late.  Joakim Noah led the way for the Bulls yesterday with 21 points and 14 rebounds.  Luol Deng (16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal) and Carlos Boozer (15 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots) also had solid games for the Bulls yesterday.  Derrick Rose only shot 6 of 22 from the floor but he still finished up with 15 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals and 1 blocked shot in this game.  The Bulls are still up 3-1 in this series.

The Bulls didn’t play too well offensively last night but they amped up the D as they held the Pacers to 37.9% shooting from the floor which was the big reason for the win.  Derrick Rose only shot 4 of 18 from the floor last night but he made a key lay-up to give the Bulls the lead that they didn’t give up.  Rose finished up with 23 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals last night.  Luol Deng stepped up offensively for the Bulls last night as he finished up with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 blocked shot.  Kyle Korver was solid off the bench again last night as he had 12 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 blocked shot in only 19 minutes on the floor.  Korver shot 5 of 6 from the floor and he made 2 of his 3 shots from three point range in this game.  Joakim Noah was tough around the basket as he finished up with 11 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 blocked shots.  The Bulls are now up 3-0 on the Pacers in this series.

The Chicago Bulls are outrebounding the Pacers by an average of 53-33 in the first two games of this series and that is because of how well the frontcourt is playing.  Luol Deng has been really duking it out with Danny Granger so far in this series.  He is averaging 40.0 minutes, 16.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.5 steals per game as he is holding his own.  Carlos Boozer has been very solid around the basket as he is averaging 34.0 minutes, 14.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per game in this series.  Joakim Noah is averaging 30.0 minutes, 7.0 points, 10.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.5 blocked shots per game.  Derrick Rose is getting the headlines but the heartbeat of the Bulls is really the frontcourt and they need them to continue to work hard.

Point guard Derrick Rose has been unstoppable against the Pacers so far in this series.  He has played in 2 games (2 starts) for the Bulls so far in this series and he is averaging 39.0 minutes, 37.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocked shots per game.  It’s too bad that the MVP votes are already in, because Rose is really dominating right now as he has been the best player in the NBA Playoffs so far.

The Bulls outrebounded the Pacers 57-33  last night but it wasn’t until they outscored them 29-23 in the 4th quarter that they finally put them away.  Derrick Rose had another monster night with 36 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals in this game.  Carlos Boozer was a beast inside for the Bulls with 17 points, 16 rebounds and 1 steal last night.  Luol Deng pitched in with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals last night.  The Bulls are now up 2-0 on the Pacers as the series shifts to Indiana.

The Bulls outrebounded the Pacers 49-34 but they appeared to be sleepwalking until the last half of the 4th quarter yesterday, but they still won.  They outscored the Pacers 33-20 in the 4th quarter to surge to victory.  Derrick Rose took over in this game for the Bulls as he led the way with 39 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocked shots.  Luol Deng also had a outstanding game with 18 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal yesterday.  Kyle Korver was also a big key to this win for the Bulls.  He finished up with 13 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 blocked shot in only 21 minutes on the floor.  Korver hit all 4 of his three-point shots yesterday including the eventual dagger late in the 4th quarter.  Carlos Boozer (12 points and 6 rebounds) and Joakim Noah (10 points, 11 rebounds and 3 blocked shots) also pitched in with muscle around the basket.  The Bulls are now up 1-0 in this series.