Don't Panic

First off; no panic here. The Bulls, who finished as the top seed in the NBA won the opener at home. Consider, if they had lost this game, there would be talk of "collapse" and "choke" etc ... so the fact that Da Bulls held serve on their home court does not crush me. A win Wednesday would be huge; a split is a split.

That said, there is lots, yes oodles, of room for concern. First off, yes, Rose had a great game with 28 points and 3/7 from the 3 point line, but Noah's 14 rebounds and just plain dominance of the paint, alongside the aggressive frontcourt play of Boozer, and lordy, even the gutsy play of Gibson (yikes, what a jam/putback that was) was cumulatively an enormous-around-the-basket force.

That's why, sure, you gotta be quick against this Chicago team, but the length and size of Zadrunis surely would have helped tonight. I think Spo's gotta rethink dressing out Z. (It's not like big cat Magloire is quick.)

Offensive rebounds (19 - 6 Bulls) destroyed the Heat tonight. Offensive rebounds lead to 2nd chance points, which means no Heat fast court pace with open breaks. Z helps you clear those defensive boards. Significantly, he also has had some great offensive tips and O-rebounds of his own. They'll need lots more than Z to steal game 2 in Chitown though.

Big picture is don't panic. Lots of ball left to play. A let down after that gargantuan series against the Cs was probably unavoidable. They'll be getting 2 days of much needed rest with no travel - that will help.

"There's nothing to run from ...
Everyone here's got someone to lean on"
--Don't Panic / Coldplay