The undermanned Chicago Bulls toppled the seemingly invincible Miami Heat Monday night, and have put the entire NBA on notice that they are not letting their numerous injuries serve as an excuse to pack it in. Game 2 will tip off in AmericanAirlines Arena tonight at 7:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on TNT. The game can be live streamed for free here; Bulls fans can listen to the game on ESPN 1000 while Heat fans should tune in to 560 WQAM.
The Bulls pulled off their Game 1 victory without Luol Deng, who is recovering from a spinal tap, and Kirk Hinrich who is battling a severe calf bruise; they also have done without 2011 MVP Derrick Rose, who does not yet feel comfortable with the status of his surgically repaired knee. Most teams would be satisfied taking just one game from the defending champion Heat, but not the Joakim Noah-led Bulls.
"We're not satisfied," Noah said. "We've been getting some big victories the last couple games, but we're not satisfied. We're going to stay hungry, make our adjustments and try to play even better."
Despite their gutty Game 1 win, few are predicting the Bulls to win many more games and even fewer believe they can actually win the series. According to Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau, what the outside world thinks and predicts matters very little inside the Chicago locker room.
"The outside shouldn't matter. It really shouldn't," Thibodeau said. "The only thing that matters, really, is what we think. So whether it's praise or criticism from the outside, that's not important. It's what we think on the inside. So we know if we do the right things that go into winning, we're going to have a chance to win and that's all we want to focus in on. All the other stuff, I think, just gets you distracted."
The Heat are not strangers to facing postseason deficits. Just last season, the Indiana Pacers and Boston Celtics had Miami on the ropes, only to get walloped by LeBron James.
Heading into Game 2, LeBron said strategy will not matter as much as effort. "It ain't about Xs and Os in this series. It's about will and determination to win the series, for both teams. ... We want our shooters to shoot and they will continue to shoot because we will continue to find them. We've got the utmost confidence in them."
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