You can hand Joakim Noah the MVP for Game 7 as the Chicago Bulls defeated the Brooklyn Nets 99-93 at the Barclays Center Saturday night. This is what the NBA Playoff Standings look like following the conclusion of this series. The second round is finally set.
As a reward, the Bulls will face the No. 1 seeded team in the NBA, Miami Heat, after they easily got past the first round. These were the results in the East.
Heat beat Milwaukee Bucks 4-0
New York Knicks beat Boston Celtics 4-2
Indiana Pacers beat Atlanta Hawks 4-2
Bulls beat Brooklyn Nets 4-3
This proves that only the Heat series was predictable. Who knew that the Bulls, injured and banged up, could summon the heart and strength to defeat the No. 4 seeded Nets? They not only won Game 2 and then pushed the Nets to a triple-overtime game, they saw one of their injured stars rise to the occasion in Game 7 as Noah single-handedly and continuously derailed the Nets' plans of making a comeback.
Noah dropped 24 points, tying him for the game-high with the likes of Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams in Game 7. However, Noah wrapped up with a double-double grabbing 14 rebounds, half of which were on the offensive end. He also had two assists, one steal and six blocked shots, handling business on both sides of the floor.
Some Nets fans probably thought Noah played a bit rough as they screamed for foul calls, but the referees let these guys play. The Nets were simply caught off guard as the supposed "injured" Bulls had the heart to make it into the second round.
Over in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder know a couple of things about injuries as they play without their main man, Russell Westbrook. The Thunder escaped the first round on Friday, along with three other teams leading their respective series, one of which were the No. 5 ranked Memphis Grizzlies. Here are the final standings for the first round in the West:
OKC Thunder beat Houston Rockets 4-2
San Antonio Spurs beat Los Angeles Laker 4-0
Golden State Warriors beat Denver Nuggets 4-2
Grizzlies beat Los Angeles Clippers 4-2
It was a pretty rough 2013 NBA playoffs for the city of L.A., but the offseason might be a little rougher as Chris Paul and Dwight Howard are set to make a chunk of change in the free agent market during the offseason.
Here are what the second round matchups look like as they beginning Sunday afternoon:
Miami Heat (1) vs. Chicago Bulls (5)
New York Knicks (2) vs. Indiana Pacers (3)
Oklahoma City Thunder (1) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (5)
San Antonio Spurs (2) vs. Golden State Warriors (6)
