John Chang
MIAMI HEAT +2 over Chicago Bulls, 10 dimes
Remember Chicago's Game 1 with the Hawks? The Bulls defense was hit in the mouth, and they had no answer for the dribble, drive, floater attack of Atlanta. The Hawks ended up stunning everyone by winning that game. Now comes in Miami, a team that plays much better defense than Atlanta, that shoots the ball better than Atlanta, that has three go-to guys for scoring runs, that has role players that are dangerous from 3 point land, that has nice size and athleticism, so on and so forth. Chicago has had trouble dispatching inferior opponents Indiana and Atlanta, and I believe they are going to have their hands full with the Heat. If it wasn't for Derrick Rose in several of the last games, the Bulls wouldn't have had a chance, even at home. One thing I've noticed is many of the other Bulls players standing around and watching Derrick Rose work his MVP magic. With Miami's defense as good as it is, the onus is going to be on Chicago's many role players to step up and offer some serious scoring. I really don't see this happening, at least not in this first game. Like Chicago, Miami has boasted one of the best road records in the association this year. Take the two points with the road team.