Bulls Favored Over Heat In Game 1 Of The Eastern Conference Finals Sunday
May 15, 2011 – By Scott
During the offseason before the 2010-11 NBA Season began, the Chicago Bulls were hoping that LeBron James would bring his talents to the Windy City along with Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. And as everyone knows, the big three landed in Miami.
The Chicago Bulls did not get what they were wanting but instead got a much deeper team led by MVP Derrick Rose that went on to put up the best record in the NBA.
Now, these two will face each other in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals which begins Sunday night at 8:00 pm ET in Chicago.
There really is no way of knowing the success Chicago would have had if they acquired at least one of the big three to go along with Rose, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah. But in the end, James felt that Miami was the place for him in order to reach his goals.
“It was a great meeting that I had with that team and that franchise, knowing the history,” James said. “There was some great things that they said, but at the end of the day, I felt like this was the best opportunity for me to win a championship.
“But it was a great team,” he added. “I definitely had one or two mornings where I woke up thinking I would be a Bull, too, but ultimately I decided to come here.”
Chicago is back in the conference finals for the first time since 1998, a team that featured Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippin and completed their second threepeat. Their 62-20 record also matches their best since the 1998 season and now head into the best-of-seven series with the Heat having swept their regular season meetings between the two.
“I think a lot of people are looking forward to this series,” James said. “Honestly, a lot of people didn’t think we’d get past Boston. So we’re moving on and we’re looking forward to the challenge. Two good teams, two great defensive teams, so it’s going to be a struggle for both teams offensively at times. May the best man win.”
NBA sportsbooks feel that Chicago will take Game 1 at home and have the Bulls favored by 2. The OVER/UNDER is set at 180.
