Bulls-Heat: So Far, So Great

Wow, what an impressive win for the Grown Up Bulls. (Up 2-0 on the Heat, heading into tomorrow' game in Miami).

Favorite highlights from Game 2:

• Noc's sick seven straight points to close out the first quarter. The look on Ty Thomas' face when he first passed the ball to Noc was amazing, but it got even better after Noc hit the three at the buzzer. Watching those two interact is absolutely amazing.
• Speaking of Ty Thomas, how about Alonzo Mourning obliterating Thomas when he tried to sky over him for an attempted dunk. The veteran really put the rookie in his place -- I'm just glad Thomas didn't get hurt.
• Thabo being able to shoot the ball a little bit -- always nice to see.
• Hinrich getting things going a little bit. He wasn't dominant, but he was a lot more impressive than his dud Game 1. Dude still needs to work on staying out of foul trouble, though. Always happy to see him get his assists.
• The Bulls literally running the Heat ragged with screens and motion. I really think Miami is fading into the dreaded 'not-care' zone.
• Luol Deng: The surge continues.

Before the contest MJD at the AOL FanHouse predicted a Bulls victory, but he also followed it up something that really stuck with me: "And in Game 3, the Heat will still feel like 20-point favorites."

You know what? They kind of do feel like favorites. As confident as I felt about the Bulls winning Game 3, Alonzo Mourning said this, and again, It got me thinking:

"You guys [the media] can write what you want to write, and that's fantastic. You've got to do what you've got to do, and that's appease the public. But the bottom line is we're the world champions, and the first team that wins four games moves on. And that has not happened."

You know what? Mourning's right. The Miami Heat are the defending NBA Champions, and as dreadful as they've looked at times during this series, there's no reason to write them off, especially going into consecutive home games. That's not to say I'm forecasting some type of Bulls collapse -- I'm not -- but let's just say I'll be singing a much, much happier tune if the Bulls somehow go up 3-0.

But the way the NBA works, and homecourt works, and champions work, the task is daunting, to say the least.