From the looks of it, the Chicago Bulls will face the Brooklyn Nets in the 2013 NBA Playoffs' first round. How do the Nets fair against the Bulls? It's not good news for Brooklyn. If the regular season told us anything, it's that the Bulls are the superior team after winning the season series 3-1 and coming back on Thursday despite missing a bulk of players and facing a deficit early on.
The Bulls defeated the Nets taking the season series from the No. 4 team in the Eastern Conference. With the victory, they pull 1.5 games behind the Nets.
Now, if the Nets want to lock up the fourth seed in the East, they have to win at least six of their next seven games, granted that the Bulls win all of theirs. However, the Bulls were not only able to defeat the Nets at home, but they came back from a 16-point deficit in the second quarter. So what good would home court advantage do for the Nets if the Bulls are capable of winning in Brooklyn?
That's the best case scenario for the Nets: winning the fourth seed, increasing their chances of victory since they'll be playing at home. If the Nets don't secure the fourth seed, then their chances of winning are extremely slim. In two games in Chicago this season, the Nets are 0-2 losing a close first game 83-82 and then getting defeated 93-82.
Yes, the scores are pretty close, but the Bulls will carry the confidence especially after beating the Nets when their two best players, Deron Williams and Brook Lopez, scored 58 of the team's 90 points. Lopez had 18 points in the first quarter alone. However, the Bulls proved that team effort is more important than individual performances as they finished with five players in double figures led by Carlos Boozer who grabbed 18 rebounds along with scoring 29 points.
The Nets did a great job putting this team together over the offseason, however, Joe Johnson doesn't appear to be making the adequate contributions to this team. Yes, he's hit big shots during the regular season, but, on Thursday night, he scored 12 points shooting 4-11 from the floor. It will take a bigger effort than that from Johnson. The Nets consider him a part of their big three as Lopez, Williams and Johnson are expected to carry the load for this team.
So a first-round elimination simply seems eminent as the Nets will have to return to the drawing board and find another adequate piece to add to the Williams/Lopez duo.
