Chicago says bull to Cavs’ sweep
Associated Press
INDEPENDENCE
They pushed the Boston Celtics to the edge last season. This year, they want to shove the Cleveland Cavaliers over it.
The Chicago Bulls didn’t fight their way into the NBA playoffs to be somebody’s punching bag.
This underdog doesn’t plan to roll over and play dead.
“You don’t go into the series thinking you’re going to lose,” Bulls center Joakim Noah said.
The gangly and gifted Noah has spent the past few days trying to convince anyone willing to listen that the eight-seeded Bulls intend to “try and shock the world” and eliminate LeBron James and the heavily favored Cavs, who won 61 games during the regular season before shifting into neutral and dropping their final four to rest for a postseason they hope ends with a title.
Noah, who earlier this season took exception to James’ on-court dance moves during a game in Cleveland, rejects the idea that the Bulls can’t hang with the top-seeded Cavs, who will host Game 1 this afternoon at 3 at Quicken Loans Arena and Game 2 on Monday at 7 p.m.
“To me, seeding doesn’t mean anything,” Noah said. “At the end of the day, it’s yours against mine. That’s the way we view it. I think it’s going to be a good challenge.”
While March was especially ripe with madness this year in an NCAA tournament speckled with upsets from beginning to almost the bitter end, the NBA’s postseason rarely offers one of those honey-wake-the-neighbors shockers that rock the basketball universe.
Since the league changed its playoff format in 1984, there have only been three times when a No. 8 knocked off a No. 1 seed, and the only time it happened in the Eastern Conference was when Miami stunned New York in a five-game series in 1999.
The only time a No. 8 has toppled a No. 1 in seven games was when Golden State shocked Dallas in 2007.
In last year’s opening round, the Bulls took advantage of Boston’s Kevin Garnett being out with a knee injury, and took the defending champion Celtics to a Game 7 before losing.
With the Cavs getting back Shaquille O’Neal, Chicago’s odds are just as long this time.
But coach Vinny Del Negro, whose future with the club is murky, is ignoring the dire predictions for his team.
“That’s why I don’t listen to anybody. You never know what’s going to happen in a series,” he said. “Obviously, Cleveland’s had a great year. They have LeBron. But other than LeBron, they have a lot of really skilled players.
“They’re deep. They’re big. Shaq coming back causes more problems, obviously. We know what Mo Williams is capable of doing.
“There’s no question it’s a huge task, but that’s what makes it great.”
The Bulls won the first meeting between the clubs, 86-85 on Nov. 5. The Cavaliers took the next two before Chicago beat Cleveland 109-108 on April 8, when James sat out the first of four straight games to end the season.
In Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng, the Bulls have skilled scorers able to stay with James and Co. Rose averaged just 17 points — nearly 4 below his season average —— in three games against the Cavs, who will likely put 6-foot-6 Anthony Parker to try and contain Chicago’s driving star.