If there’s anything to take away from the Chicago Bulls this season, it would be they still know how to play with the best even if some of their star players are out of the lineup.
The Bulls came through with a big Game 1 victory against the Miami Heat on Monday to take an early 1-0 lead in the semifinals just a few days after coming off an impressive opening round series win against the Brooklyn Nets that lasted all the way to Game 7. With Derrick Rose out of the lineup as he’s been all season, it was Nate Robinson and Jimmy Butler that stepped it up for Chicago when they needed it most as Robinson finished with 27 points while Butler scored 21 points of his own to go along with 14 rebounds.
Obviously, this was not what the Heat wanted to see happen considering they’re the favorites to win the NBA Finals this year with the type of regular season they displayed, but there’s no reason to panic just yet.
This tends to happen in sports where a team receives more rest than their opponent heading into another playoff series as Miami came off a 4-0 sweep against the Milwaukee Bucks for their opening round matchup while Chicago just recently played on Saturday night. The Bulls deserve all of the credit in the world for pulling off an impressive victory on the road, but there’s no reason for anyone to be worried about the Heat just yet considering this was just one game of what should be a very long and tough series.
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