It's Playoff Time

Well that was fun. Bulls improve their regular season record from 41-41 last year to 62-20 this year. They went from the 8th seed to home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. The acquisition of Thibs, Boozer, and a good surrounding cast, multiplied by DRose's evolution over the summer (development of a 3-pt shot, USA national team experience, increasing confidence, etc.) are all to thank for the drastic improvement from last season.

All of that doesn't really matter anymore as the 1st round of the playoffs is upon us. The Bulls are a favorite to win the East and many have already locked them in to get to the finals. Kind of crazy seeing as DRose has yet to make it out of the first round let alone play in the Conference Finals. Did Thibs play this team too hard during the regular season? Phil Jackson and Greggy Pop know not to stretch their teams too much in the Fall and Winter because the meaningful games don't start until April. Will this team's playoff inexperience impede a deep run let alone a trip to the finals? I think it would be foolish to not take these arguments into account. But with that being said, I don't think we'll have to think about that for another week and a half as we have a 37-win Pacer team in the 1st round. The Pacers are the only blemish on the 15-1 Bulls record against divisional opponents and enter these playoffs as the worst team based on their overall record. On the other hand this Indy squad has given good teams a handful. Ever since their coaching change and Psycho-T's emergence as, well a psycho, they've been giving teams fits. Let's break this bitch down.

Starting Five:
The Pacers could give the Bulls a hard time because they have a decent PG in Collison, George and Granger are pretty athletic on the wings, Psycho-T will be giving Boozer fits, and Jo isn't playing at 100% (Hibbert sucks). But they have less playoff experience than the Bulls, the Bulls have the #1 defense, and the Bulls have Derrick Rose. He's been driven to win more than ever before and there's no way he's not getting out of the 1st round against this Pacer team. Advantage: Bulls

Bench:
Being that we're in the playoffs now, Thibs will probably be pretty short on his rotation. Brewer, TajMahal, HotSauce, BigSexy, and CJ will probably be the only ones seeing meaningful minutes. Butler looked good in the Nets game and may see more minutes if Brewer is still hurt. Pacers will be throwing out the pu-pu platter of AJ Price, Mike Dunleavy, Josh McRoberts, Dahntay Jones (no, this isn't a Duke reunion), Jeff Foster, Brandon Rush. TJ Ford has just come back from injury and may not see a lot of minutes. Albeit the Pacers will more likely go deeper into their bench, TajMahal and Korver would be starting on the Pacers. Advantage: Bulls

Coaching:
Frank Vogel was thrust into the position after the firing of Jim O'Brien and the Pacers have been playing well under the interim coach. But lets be real, although this may be Thibs' first year as a head coach, he has 20+ years in the NBA under his belt, was a main architect of the Celtics' past successes, and coached his team to 62 wins. Advantage: Bulls

Intangibles:
The Bulls will be kicking off the NBA playoffs Saturday at Noon in front of a rabid crowd at the Madhouse. This team has been the best this city has seen in more than a decade and have been waiting for a team this dominant ever since. The city of Indianapolis is just glad that their team made the playoffs and their fans are probably more excited to watch the Bulls play in Conseco Field House two more times. Advantage: Bulls

Prediction:
I think we might see a Bulls blowout in one of the first two home games and tougher games played in Indy. But get your Adam Scott putters out because I'm looking for a SWEEP in the 1st round. Bulls in 4 (.....aaaaannnnnnd there's the jinx).