D.J. Augustin has emerged as the Chicago Bulls best late game scorer. He’ll be the key player for the #4 seed Bulls as they host the #5 seed Wizards to open the series tonight. The one game the Wizards lost during the season, Nene missed. But now he’s back. So the front-court match-up with Gortat and Nene against Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer will be intriguing, and I think overall a “push.”
I think the two groups of forwards will neutralize each other and the Bulls will have the advantage in the backcourt with D.J. Augustin and company.
ESPN NBA Analyst Jeff Van Gundy on the Bulls chances of making a deep run this postseason:
“Their margin of error is just so small, Noah has had a great year, Gibson could easily be sixth man, Dunleavy has held up well, Jimmy Butler is an iron man, Hinrich is a great competitor, and D.J. Augustin, to me picking him up and signing him was a season favor, and I give management credit for signing him but Thibodeau for re-energizing him.”
The Bulls are a wild card this NBA Playoffs, as they have an interesting make-up. Noah is the closest thing they have to a real star. And he’s a center, a dying breed. Let alone a center who’s key to distributing the ball in their offense. An extremely balanced offense, with about six or seven guys getting double figure scoring.
“They’ve absolutely maxed out their group every year, and you know, they are a hungry team and they come ready to play as much as anyone in the NBA. What happens in the Playoffs is everyone is ready and excited, and so, yeah, their margin of error is super small. But I do think they’ll figure out how to beat a young, inexperienced Wizards team who’s clearly more talented,” said Van Gundy.
“Gortat’s very good under the rim but I just feel like Chicago defensively in a series will make it very, very difficult and with home court advantage and the United Center is such a great place to play, I just do believe that Chicago will – I think they’ll advance.”
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on national talk radio. Banks is a former contributor to NBC Chicago and the Washington Times, who’s been featured on the History Channel. President Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)