Bulls - If shumpert can slow D.rose down even a little bit that would benefit us, i know it's damn near impossible to slow D.Rose down but if we can force him to have to make somebody else step up and hit shots, then i think we have a chance at beating them....and lets not forget Boozer makes his disappearance acts in the playoffs. The Bulls bench scares me especially on the boards and thats what really worries me... they just have so much size no homo. They have like the deepest bench in the league Brewer, Korver, lucas, watson, gibson, asik, butler? yeah thats not something you want to see in a 7 game series. Our bench is deep to but not as deep as the bulls especially when they bring Asik and Gibson in we would get mauled on the boards. The Bulls beat the Heat without rose....let me say that again WITHOUT ROSE.
let me add a little more sting to it Hamilton was not available either, 2 starters for the bulls not available and there still winning games like this... nobody can sit here and say "lets play the bulls it's easier because it wont be easier in fact it might even be tougher.
Heat Not only would we have to stop Lebron, but we have to contain wade and Bosh. We already see how scary the Heat are on fast breaks and we already seen what type of lock down defense they are capable of playing... there not exactly a team you want to see in the first round... how ever if we put them in a zone i have no doubt they crumble. Lebron has been playing great basketball all season.... but in the playoffs if you put the heat in a zone they will we the bed i guarantee that. Force Lerbon and wade to make jumpers and we can take that series. The one thing we would have to take advantage of is out rebounding the heat, we have more size than them down low between chandler and Amare we would have to commit to rebound and second chance points also, we need to feature Chandler down low in this series he has the height advantage over joel, it would be on our best interest to get joel in foul trouble early
In conclusion i rather play the Heat in the first round. I think that would be a fun series to watch i think we have the fire power to keep up with them and if we play team defense and some zone the "BIG 2" can be contained. Can you imagine hearing... "THE KNICKS UPSET THE MIAMI HEAT IN THE FIRST ROUND" that would be music to my ears and if we were to eliminate the heat can you imagine the confidence on this team through out the playoffs. I think the Knicks have a better chance at eliminating the heat and the celtics have a better chance at eliminating the Bulls and containing D.rose. especially if the Celtics are able to control the game at their pace... don't sleep on boston.
Lets look at the matchups
Knicks vs Heat
Lin vs chalmers
Fields/shump vs Wade
Melo vs Lebron
Amare vs Bosh
Chandler vs Joel
OUR BENCH>>>>HEAT BENCH by a long shot
We match up very decently vs the Heat... if not better
Bulls vs Boston
Rondo vs Rose
Allen vs Hamilton
Pierce vs Deng
KG vs Boozer
Jermaine? vs Noah <--- im not sure who the celtics starting center will be but what ever
arguably they match up decently with each other it all comes down to containing rose but
BULLS BENCH>>>>>> CELTICS BENCH that's the only Killer here.
But like some people are posting there are still some games left in the season, so we dont really need to worry about if we play the bulls or heat until the season is completely done