1. The Atlanta Hawks are not going to roll over and die. I really didn't think the Hawks matched up well with the Bulls at all. I thought Chicago was going to pretty much just steamroll them behind Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and company. Newsflash, the Hawks came to play. The Hawks jumped out to a double digit first quarter lead, found themselves down in the third quarter and then battled back outplaying the Bulls down the stretch to take a 1-0 series lead. Joe Johnson finished with 34 points and hit all 5 of his 3-point attempts and Jamal Crawford, a former Bull, added 22 points off the bench for the Hawks who shot 51.3% from the floor. Even without Kirk Hinrich, the Hawks gave Derrick Rose problems as he missed his first 7 shots and finished 11 of 27 with just 24 points. To make matters worse for Chicago, Rose rolled his ankle on the last play of the game. If he can't go Chicago's in trouble. And even with him, get ready for a series.
2. Derrick Rose needs to get to the free throw line. In the first three game of their opening series against Indiana, Rose shot 21,13 and 15 free throws. Since then he shot 4, 7 and ZERO in the opener against Atlanta. Rose's jumpshot is not the strong point of his game, so to be effective he has to be able to get to the foul line. I don't know if it's a coincidence that Rose injured his ankle in Game 4 against the Pacers. If that's the case, his latest ankle injury becomes that much more significant.
3. The Bulls defense has to play better. Chicago gave up just 91.3 points per game during the regular season. Atlanta torched them for 103 and as mentioned before shot 51.3%. In their three regular season meetings, Atlanta scored 83, 76 and 81 points.
4. You cannot give points away in the playoffs. At the end of the first half, Jason Terry fouled Lamar Odom on a desperation three-pointer. Then, when jockeying for the rebound, Dirk Nowitzki threw and elbow at Ron Artest. End result? 4 points for the Lakers with less than a half second remaining in the half. Instead of going into the break down 5, they instead found themselves down 9. Granted Dallas was able to come back and win the game, but this almost cost them as the Lakers had a chance to win the game at the buzzer. Fortunately for Dallas, Kobe's 3 hit off the back iron.
5. Dirk wins round one versus Pau. 28 points and 14 rebounds for Dirk including the go-ahead free throws with 20 seconds to play. Pau had a great all around game with 15 points 11 rebounds and 7 assists, but fouled Dirk to set up his game winning free throws and then turned the ball over on the Lakers next possession.
6. Kobe Bryant still has a lot in the tank. Yes, the Lakers lost, but Kobe went for 36 points in a losing effort. HOWEVER, he had zero assists.
7. So far none of the four teams I picked won their opening game. This is not shaping up well. Once again we are all reminded why I shouldn't gamble.
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