I should be happy with this Bulls season but right now I'm not. I didn't think they would win 62 games or make it to the Eastern Conference Finals but that was BEFORE the season started. Once the playoffs started, I was expecting the Bulls to get to the NBA Finals. I would have been happy if Miami proved that they were clearly the better team but they didn't. They played better in games two and three but the Bulls deserved to win games four and five. All Miami proved was that they could handle late-game pressure better than the Bulls. If the Bulls don't have fourth quarter collapses two games in a row, then they are right now one win after from the NBA Finals. So right now this season doesn't feel like a success because it feels like the Bulls could have accomplished more. I hate losing but I hate losing even more when I feel my team should have won. I really wish there could have been a game six in Miami because I really think the Bulls could have won that game and forced a game seven in Chicago. If Miami won game six (or game seven) by ten points, I would feel a little better about how the season ended.
In the past, I may have been really happy with a season like this but not anymore. I don't want to look at this season as a good learning experience for the Bulls. I agree that the Bulls are still a young team and got a lot farther than people expected but it's disappointing to see them fail when they were so close to a NBA Championship. People assume the Bulls will get this far next year but will they? I thought for sure the Cubs would get to the World Series in 2004 after reaching the NLCS in 2003. Since 2003, they haven't won another playoff game. I thought that the 2007 Chicago Bears would win the Super Bowl after the 2006 Bears lost in Super Bowl XLI. The 2007 Bears failed to make the playoffs and have made the playoffs only once since then. Nothing is guaranteed in sports. Next year, the Bulls may not win 60 games again. They may fall to the #3 seed in the East and they may not even make it past the second round.
Maybe the Bulls can do what the Chicago Blackhawks did. The Blackhawks fell just short of the Stanley Cup Finals in 2009 and then they won the Stanley Cup in 2010. I wish the Bulls can do what the Blackhawks did. I hope the Bulls come back even hungrier than they were this year. But I'm not sure if I believe that will happen. I really think this could be the closest the Bulls will get to the NBA Finals for the next five years.
Hopefully I'm wrong but I think five years from now, I will look back at this game and this series and get upset because the Bulls had a chance to win it all and they couldn't do it. Fans can't assume the Bulls will get another chance to reach the NBA Finals in the near future. I would not be surprised at all if it takes at least six years for the Bulls to get back to the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bulls were lucky that none of their starters suffered a season-ending injury. The other teams in the East will get better. Hopefully the Bulls get better too and can stay healthy for a second season in a row. The Bulls need to add one more good player. If they don't do that this off-season, then I'm not sure how the Bulls can get to the NBA Finals. Teams have discovered that the Bulls are for real. They won't be taken lightly next year. If the Bulls come back with the exact same team they had this year, I'm not sure they can get farther in the playoffs. They need to add one or two more players who can take the Bulls to the next level. They will have more experience going into next year no matter what but that is not enough.
At this point, I don't really care who wins the Heat-Mav's match-up in the NBA Finals. Whoever wins, it will mean nothing to me. It won't change the fact that the Bulls aren't gonna win the NBA Championship this year. If I had to pick one team to win, it would be Dallas. I don't really care much about Dallas, but I don't want Miami to win. Or maybe Miami should win. Not to show that the Bulls could have won the title if they faced Dallas because I already knew that but if Miami wins, then they got their championship and may be less motivated to win another one next season. If Miami loses, they will come back even hungrier than the Bulls. LeBron James really wants to win his first championship and to lose now after getting this close would really motivate him for next year. But I think I really do want Miami to lose. If losing motivates Miami more for next year then so be it. Next year, I would rather see the Bulls beat a motivated Miami team than a Miami team that has already won a championship. I hate the Heat and I hate LeBron. There was a time I wanted to LeBron to come to Chicago but instead he took his talents to South Beach. If he can stay there for the rest of his career if he wants. We got Derrick Rose and he's our Superstar.
I hope LeBron never wins a championship and I hope Rose leads the Bulls to a championship at least one time just to show LeBron that he made a big mistake. I hate LeBron and the Heat and I hope nothing but the worse for them. Bulls-Heat could be an epic rivalry for many many years and I want the Bulls to win a championship before the Heat do.
Hopefully the Bulls can get back to the Eastern Conference Finals next year and finish the job. Right now I am officially looking at this season as a step in the right direction but a missed opportunity the Bulls may never get again in the near future.
