45 Heat Bulls Game Five Takeaways

>45) Chicago's chance to extend the series took a sharp downturn when Dallas closed last night, since that gives Miami more motivation to not look soft

44) Either Erik Spoelstra is smarter than he looks, or the Heat really don't need that much

43) If you are bummed that Miami won, a huge consolation is how much Boston Fan hates everything right now

42) Suddenly, the idea that if LeBron James was serious about winning, he should have gone to Chicago doesn't seem so, well, sane

41) Miami's win over Chicago proves, once again, that if you play your best basketball in the regular season, you are doomed

40) I'm not saying tht I'm permanently down on Carlos Boozer, but I am in favor of him completing his destiny with an Armon Gilliam fade

39) The Heat like to try to get Dwyane Wade off early, so that they have a deficit for LeBron James to close later

38) According to every broadcast crew, the solution to all problems in basketball is to More Aggression

37) The trouble with Joakim Noah being one of your best players is that he's really not that much better than a lot of energy types

36) Adidas seems to think that 9.8 doesn't make anyone in their sneaker buying demographic think of an also-ran gymnast

35) Luol Deng wasn't interested in having the rest of May off, but in the long run, Luol Deng doesn't decide these things

34) Derrick Rose pwned Mario Chalmers on both ends, which is what he should be doing all along

33) James made a ludicrous three to close the first quarter, because that's just what he does this year and in these playoffs

32) The Chicago bench took a while to show up, but hey, better late than never

31) Kyle Korver actually had basketball moments of competency, which proves that this series has been going for a long time

30) Wade's turnover troubles made you wonder if he was giving something back to his hometown

29) James bought a Deng pump fake, then bounced back up to block his shot anyway, on one of those plays that no one else in the Association can make

28) Like OKC with the Mavs, even when the Bulls played well, they didn't get any separation, adding to the Forebodings Of Doom

27) If Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem continue to regain relegance, Miami might be as good as they think they are

26) You could have made a good chunk of money by betting that Chris Bosh would be better than Wade this series

25) Carlos Boozer needs to know that Bulls Fan is saying Boo, not Booze

24) Chicago's seven point lead at the half was the biggest in the series, which is also all kinds of telling

23) There is no truth to the rumor that a shot block on Boozer is given away with every admission

22) James earned some Capri-Sun and orange slices after a flop to gain a Rose foul, then winked at the bench to make everyone outside of Miami throw up

21) Boozer finally earned some love from Bulls Fan for hitting James in the face for a flagrant, but as the Bulls were up 11 at the time and he really didn't hit him nearly hard enough, it wasn't all that smart

20) The Bulls then picked up another technical and let Miami get back in the game at the line, which made Dallas Fan shudder in remembrance

19) If the NBA doesn't do something to stop the flopping and selling of fouls soon, guys should just start taking acting lessons to make that part of their game more effective

18) Miami tried a zone, just to say they did it

17) Kurt Thomas gets fellated every year for being old and not horrible

16) When Wade doesn't shoot for a high percentage, TNT needs to find an injury reason; when he makes a jumper, they feel compelled to credit the training staff, rather than, say, random chance

15) Ronnie Brewer kept making plays in crunch time, independent of his non-star status, and his three at the 3:53 mark should have been a killshot

14) Why it took Tom Thibadeau 4.75 games to play Thomas over Boozer, we'll never know

13) Given Boston's past success with this kind of thing, you wonder why the Bulls didn't just hit James more often

12) I remain unprepared to live in a world where Chris Bosh makes plays in the clutch

11) Bulls Fan knows how to chant rude things, and since it prompted a James miss at the line, Karmic Justice was upheld

10) Rose really was the regular season MVP, which might not have been the best thing to happen for him before this series

9) The James three with 2:06 left to cut the game to five is starting to feel so familiar that the idea that he's not good in the crunch seems silly

8) Teams in this year's NBA playoffs that attempt to take some time off the clock to hold their lead, or freak out at the refs, do not win

7) In the Association, stars win games, and the last two minutes proved it in spades

6) No Bulls player but Rose wants the ball late, even at home, which kind of makes them easy to defend

5) TNT showed Heat Fan dancing after the huge James' tying three, just because the world does not hate Heat Fan enough just yet

4) In the final analysis, James can stop Rose, but Rose can't stop James, and that's kind of important

3)The really scary thing about this Heat team is that they might be a lot better next year, given Miller and Haslem getting healthy again, and the rest of the players learning how to play with each other

2) You have to wonder if Rose's troubles at the free throw line come from fatigue or inexperience, since just missing those seems against all known laws of NBA storytelling

1) The final possession, in which the Bulls were unable to get a shot off and looked terrible against ball pressure, was the series in microcosm