Where's the panic button????

The Bulls front office took a risk at the trade deadline by not trading for another scorer. It could pay off for the team down the line because finding great defenders like Taj and Omer is harder than finding shooters. But it looks like right now, that decision is somewhat hurting the Bulls. Other than Rose and Boozer, the Bulls' offense was almost non-existent. Rose had 20 points, but it seems like he still had a bad game. The Heat are doing a great job of throwing double teams at him and getting the ball out of his hands. The Heat are willing to make someone other than Derrick beat them, and right now that plan is working. Derrick is still having a hard time getting to the rim, not getting many attempts at the FT line (3-for-3), and the Heat are forcing him into some bad decisions. Boozer showed up and dropped 26 and 17, but it seemed like he could have had a 35 and 17. He missed a lot of bunnies and even some easy and-ones.

Despite their offensive woes, game 3 was almost deja vu from game 2. The Bulls weren't producing offensively but their defense was keeping them in the game. It seemed like it would get ugly in the 3rd, but the Bulls got stops and some easy points and they were only down 3 going into the 4th. It was then where the lack of offensive weapons hurt the Bulls. Thibs inserted Korver to try and space the floor, but that didn't work out so well and hurt the Bulls on the defensive end. The Heat were 50% from the floor and it seemed like they were going in from anywhere and everywhere. A couple of those shots were near the end of the shot clock and those can be demoralizing. The Bulls would be playing perfect defense and LBJ or Bosh rise up with a few seconds left and a hand in their face and knock it down. Its the playoffs and that's what needs to happen. Unfortunately its going down for the other team and not for the Bulls. It's scary that LBJ only had like 10 shot attempts in the first 3 quarters and then turned it on in the 4th. He was fine facilitating and getting his teammates good shots and then woke up from his shooting slumber at the end of the game to close it out. Even though he wasn't scoring until the end, his effect on their offense was tremendous. Needless to say, its easy to sit back and facilitate when you're passing to Wade and Bosh instead of Bogans and Noah.

It's crazy that the Heat's roster is pretty much a 7 man rotation, while the Bulls are throwing out 10 guys every night. But a majority of the Bulls rotation aren't great two-way players. Rose, Boozer, and Korver are great offensively (usually). Where as Noah, Taj, Omer, Brewer, and Bogans are best on the defensive end. Deng is really the only guy who plays both ends well. The Heat's best players can play both ends (Bosh is serviceable on defense) and because there are 3 of them, 1 or 2 of them are on the court at all times. Its games like these that make me running for the panic button. Thibs will make sure the adjustments are made and Derrick can't have another bad game. Boozer needs to keep rolling and the defense has to be there. One can't expect the Heat to be shooting out of their minds again.