Dwyane Wade states the obvious about the Chicago Bulls. Derrick Rose, however, will probably not agree. From ESPN: “They met us in the Eastern Conference finals, and they were one player away from making it a very, very, very tough series,’ Wade said. ‘Derrick Rose is evolving into a phenomenal player. You could look and see they’re one player away from being there every year.’ … Wade has a pretty good idea as to what type of player the Bulls should pursue, and it’s not a surprise. Bulls fans clamored for a shooting guard who could help take the pressure off Rose. ‘It would have to be a player that can take the pressure off him from making every play,’ Wade said. ‘As a point guard, when you have to score so much, and have to make every big shot, and have to make all the passes, eventually it takes a toll on you throughout the season, no matter how phenomenal you are. So just someone who can come in and take some of that pressure away. That’s why I was excited not only to play with my friend but excited to play with a guy like LeBron, because it takes some of that pressure away from having to do it year after year after year. It saves you, your body.’”

By Shawn Muller–

CHICAGO (CBS0) I have had a hard time getting myself to watch the NBA Finals.

Ever since the Miami Heat eliminated the Chicago Bulls in that joke of a series known as the Eastern Conference finals last month, I felt like I could literally get sick at the thought of the Miami Heat hoisting up the Larry O’ Brien Trophy.

It takes a lot for me to despise teams, but the Miami Heat have managed to find themselves on equal footing with the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Yankees, and the Dallas Cowboys in my “teams I would rather listen to Yanni while dining with the devil than see win a championship” category.

The funny thing about my hatred for Miami is that I really didn’t mind them at all prior to the summer of 2010. In fact, I actually enjoyed watching them win the NBA title over the Dallas Mavericks back in 2006. Chicago native, Dwyane Wade had his coming out party in that series, Shaquille O’ Neal–whom I always enjoyed watching play–was still a dominate force in the post, and the L.A. Lakers didn’t win the title (which is always a good thing in my book).

But once LeBron James, Dywane Wade, and Chris Bosh decided to join forces in South Florida–while spurning the Chicago Bulls in the process–my feelings towards the Heat, and many others’ feelings about the Heat, completely changed.

I like to see players create their own legacy in their own cities. I like seeing the star players in the league wanting to blaze their own trail, and create their own legend, instead of following their buddies in the hopes for an easy path to a title.

Basically, I want to see guys like Dirk Nowitzki win championships.

Dirk was also a free agent last summer.

He could have left Dallas in favor of the chasing a championship in other city.

But he didn’t.

He has played his entire career in one city. He chose loyalty to a city and a franchise over bigger dollars and brighter lights. He knew that he always was and always would be a Dallas Maverick…for better and for worse…’til death do them part.

Because of Dirk Nowitzki, if the Dallas Mavericks end up winning the championship, I won’t mind it one bit. Seriously. What’s not to like about the Mavs? They are tough nosed and determined and they don’t step down from a challenge.

No one thought they would beat the L.A. Lakers…but they swept and destroyed them. I picked the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the West, but Dallas disposed of them quite easily. And now, the Mavs and their Jim Carrey clone of a head coach–Rick Carlisle–are just one win away from becoming the champions of the NBA for the first time in franchise history.

I like the way they play and I like the solidarity that they display, and quite frankly, they remind me of our own Chicago Bulls…

Well, other than the whole competing for the NBA championship thing.

Do you agree with Shawn? Post your comments below.

Shawn Muller

Shawn Muller has lived in the great city of Chicago for 7 years. He is a 2002 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and, in October of 2010, Shawn received his certificate in radio broadcasting. In his free time, Shawn enjoys spending time with his wife Melissa and 3 year old daughter Ava, catching any live sporting event, and traveling. Check out his radio show, Grab Some Bench with Muller and Bangser” every Thursday night at 8:30 P.M., at www.blogtalkradio.com/spmuller24. Read more of his blogs here.

Read More: Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks at Miami Heat, May 31, 2011 9:00 PM EDT

Beginning Tuesday, we’ll see a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals, which pitted Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks against Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and the Miami Heat. Miami has famously been a huge TV ratings draw since adding LeBron James and Chris Bosh almost a year ago; the Heat’s Eastern Conference Finals series against the Chicago Bulls included three of the four most highly-viewed NBA games in cable TV history.

But the 2006 Finals didn’t exactly set the Nielsens on fire. The six-game series did an average rating of 8.5 — that means an estimated 8.5 percent of all households in the United States with a television were tuned in at any given point. That rates as the eighth-lowest ratings the Finals have seen since 1976, per a Wikipedia table.

And it isn’t as if LeBron is a surefire Finals ratings winner; in fact, James’ only previous Finals appearance, in 2007 as the Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by the San Antonio Spurs, drew the worst ratings since at least 1976, a 6.4. For comparison’s sake, Heat-Bulls this season — on cable television, not network TV like the Finals — drew a 6.4. So expect LeBron to easily best his last Finals appearance.

Drawing the best post-Jordan ratings will be a steeper task; the 2001 Finals between the Lakers and 76ers drew a 12.1. In the Heat’s conference finals series, ratings were up 25 percent over last year’s Magic-Celtics showdown. A 25 percent improvement on last year’s Lakers-Celtics finals would project a 13.2. It’s possible, but might require a very competitive series.

Miami Heat’s LeBron James and Dwyane Wade (3) celebrate their overtime win over the Chicago Bulls during Game 4 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals basketball series in Miami on Tuesday. The Heat defeated the Bulls 101-93. (Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)

LeBron James is doing it all for Miami, hitting big shots and clamping down on MVP Derrick Rose.

The Heat lead the Chicago Bulls 3-1 in the Eastern Conference finals and a win Thursday at the United Center means they’ll be playing for a championship.

That’s exactly the way James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh envisioned it when they decided to join together in the offseason. Miami is on the verge of its first trip to the finals since 2006 after beating Chicago 101-93 in overtime on Tuesday.

James led the way with 35 points and helped contain Rose down the stretch. Bosh chipped in with 22, Wade came up with three big blocks in overtime and the bench again delivered as the Heat took a commanding lead.

Now, they’ll try to close this one out.

“We understand it’s going to be a tough game,” Wade said. “But we have the team and we have the guys that are capable of showing up and putting on a performance that we need to win the game. It’s not going to be pretty, but that’s not Miami Heat basketball anyway.”

The Bulls dropped consecutive games only four times during the regular season and never lost more than two in a row. Their first three-game skid could not have come at a worse time.

“When you look at the score, 3-1, it looks bad,” Chicago’s Luol Deng said.

But he was quick to point out the games have been close. That’s one reason he insisted the Bulls are not out of it.

“I really believe we’ve got a group of guys that are going to keep on fighting,” Deng said. “There’s no quit in us. There’s no quit in that locker room. It’s really going to come down to the end of the game again.”

Many expected the Heat to run away with the Eastern Conference after they hit the free-agent jackpot, reeling in James and Bosh while re-signing Wade. Instead, it was the remade Bulls who jumped to a league-leading 62 wins and the top overall seed, with Rose becoming the youngest MVP and ending James’ two-year reign.

Along the way, they swept three close games from the Heat during the regular season. They even left them in tears after beating them in March, when they were in a five-game losing streak and appeared to be unraveling.

Now it’s Miami that has Chicago’s players and Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau rubbing their eyes.

“We still have games to play,” Rose said. “Thibs talked to us in the locker room about it, where we’re going back to play at home, and we have to stay positive, where they are beatable. But we just have to make sure that we play together and the turnovers have to be down, play defense.”

Only eight teams have come back to win a best-of-7 series after trailing 3-1, and if the Bulls are going to be the ninth, this can’t continue.

With their length and quickness, the Heat are simply throwing the Bulls’ offense out of sync. Any openings are closing in a flash, and the result is this: Miami is outshooting Chicago 46.8 percent to 39.9, and the Bulls have no rhythm on the perimeter.

They’re 24 of 77 on 3-pointers, and that’s with a 10-for-21 showing in Game 1′s victory. The Bulls didn’t help themselves by committing three of their 22 turnovers in overtime on Tuesday, coughing it up on consecutive possessions.

Rose gave it away seven times and when he wasn’t losing the ball, he wasn’t hitting his shots, either. He scored 23 points but made just 8 of 27 shots and only one of his nine 3s.

Miami also continues to get big contributions from its bench, squashing the idea that its three superstars have to do it all by themselves.

In Game 2, it was Udonis Haslem scoring 13 points after missing most of the regular season with a foot injury. In Game 4, the Heat’s reserves outscored Chicago’s 23-18 and beat them on the glass 18-5, with Mike Miller contributing 12 points and nine rebounds and Mario Chalmers scoring nine.

And in the end, it was the Heat taking command of the series.

“I think it came down to hustle plays,” Chalmers said. “At first they [Chicago Bulls] were beating us to all the 50/50 balls. In the fourth quarter and the overtime, we were able to beat them to all the 50/50 balls and that’s what helped us win.”

As for Rose?

The defense, particularly James down the stretch, had something to do with it. The Heat simply weren’t giving him any room, and if they keep that up, they could be moving on.

“[Rose] doesn’t have to change,” Thibodeau said. “He can go catch-and-shoot, he can go isolation, he can go pick-and-roll. There’s a lot of things. But they also have an excellent team defence. It’s not just LeBron.”

Last week following the Bulls’ Game 1 win over the Miami Heat, I wrote that the Bulls depth would give them a big advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals. It could end up being a difference-maker, but in order for that to happen, the players must execute better on offense, regain their composure, find a counter for Udonis Haslem, stop Chris Bosh’s momentum following his breakout Game 3, and, oh yeah, contain Dwyane Wade and LeBron James.

In other words, the Bulls are in deep trouble heading into Game 4.

Coming into the series, some of Chicago’s edge came from guys like Joakim Noah, Kyle Korver, C.J. Watson, Ronnie Brewer and Taj Gibson. In Game 3 those players combined for 21 points. That’s not going to be enough. Not when Udonis Haslem is playing as well as he is for the Heat. Having superior talent and depth doesn’t mean much if ithose players are not performing.

Most importantly, the Bulls, a team known for their defense, began to show some cracks on Sunday night.

Down the stretch the Bulls couldn’t stop the Heat and even began to show a hint of panic. Noah got into it with a fan and reportedly used a homophobic slur. The rest of the Bulls were calm in comparison, but they seemed to be biting on every up-fake. The Bulls couldn’t make any big stops and allowed a critical 9-0 Miami run in the middle of the fourth quarter.

Now the pressure has totally shifted in this series. The Heat are up 2-1 and play Game 4 in Miami. This is the first real ‘must win’ game of the series.

Chicago needs a big game from reigning-but-currently-not-playing-like-it MVP Derrick Rose. Even that won’t be enough. The rest of the team needs to show up and not just a few parts. Luol Deng needs to be effective, Noah has to score more than one point.

Someone has to stop Haslem from impacting the game as dramatically as he has to this point. The presence of Haslem has created a situation where Chris Bosh has been able to be very effective on the offensive end of the court. If Bosh is able to score 30 points, the Bulls will have to completely shut down Dwyane Wade or LeBron James in order to keep up. Not an easy task.

The NBA gets some criticism for the long protracted post-season. The eventual champ ends up winning four best-of-seven series. That type of rigorous test leaves little room for flukes or for a hot shooting night to propel an undermanned team to an NBA title.

One thing such a test provides is some concrete answers. Are the Bulls the best team in the NBA and just not playing to potential? Or are the Heat truly coming together and gelling as a unit at the best time?

Fans will know the answers to these questions fairly soon.