If the old adage in the NBA is that a playoff series doesn’t start until a road team gets a win, then the Chicago Bulls have nothing to be worried about, right? After all, the Pistons just took care of business on their home floor; now that this series is headed back to Chicago, maybe be the Bulls have a chance.

Well in most NBA playoff series that is probably true, but not in this one. As much as I hate to say it, the Bulls aren’t going to beat the Pistons in 4 of the next 5 games. It’s just not going to happen. Sure they’ll probably steal a game or two, and avoiding the sweep would be huge for the further development of the team, but after only two games, I have to say that the Bulls probably won’t advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

These first two games have been an absolute nightmare; everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. I can’t remember this team under Scott Skiles ever shooting themselves in the foot as much as they have the past two games. From traveling and double dribble calls to missed rebounds and free throws, the Bulls never even gave themselves the opportunity to be competitive. It isn’t just on player that sabotaging them right now, it’s everyone. Hinrich’s been terrible. Nocioni has been terrible. Gordon and Deng haven’t been special like they were in the first round. It was a total team collapse in the first two games.

It’s not even that losing the first two games in Detroit would have automatically been a death sentence, but it’s the way it has happened. Besides for the Bulls playing horrible, the Pistons have been locked in. Remember how well the Bulls shot the ball versus Miami? Well that’s how Detroit is shooting it against them now; it’s almost hard to imagine the Pistons playing any better.

After Detroit jumped out to an early lead in game 2, the Bulls offense never got in sync. The Pistons would hit a shot and the Bulls would rush down and force a 3 pointer with 18 seconds left on the shot clock. The whole “7 seconds or less” thing works great for the Suns, but it seemed like the Bulls were trying to make 5 point shots throughout the 2nd and 3rd quarter. That game plan just isn’t going to work against the Pistons. They’re too good.

The drive and kick offense that looked so potent in the first round has not been there for the Bulls against the Pistons. It’s a combination of a lot of things, Detroit’s length and athleticism, the Bulls just not hitting shots, but most of all the Bulls have yet to find a rhythm on offense. Every possession looks painstakingly difficult. Deng hasn’t touched the ball enough and when he does he’s not driving it into the paint. Hinrich’s horrendous shooting is made even worse by his inability to draw Piston defenders in the paint off his penetration. Gordon, who the Bulls rely on more then anyone else to score, isn’t getting good looks at the hoop. The entire offense can be sputtering but if Gordo is on, they’re still ok. He hasn’t been able to carry them so far this series. Nocioni is fourth guy the Bulls can usually count on for scoring, but he’s been pathetic this series. People are going to write and say that this has something to do with him openly proclaiming he thought the Bulls were going to win the series, but I’m not buying that. Maybe those words have put a little more pressure on his shoulders, but it’s not entirely his fault that the entire offense is such a joke right now. They all affect one another and the Bulls haven’t established any sort of offensive continuity in this series.

The thing that’s really disheartening is that there was not a single moment in the past two games where the Bulls have even been competitive. Sure they cut it to 8 in game 1 and 13 in game 2, but Detroit was always came right back and suffocated the comeback. The Bulls just never really had a chance. Things got so bad, Skiles even had to put in Michael Sweetney in game 2 (As one of my buddies said: “Don’t give it to Sweetney. Unless it’s a recipe he won’t know what to do with it”) I guess the only saving grace is that the Bulls can’t play much worse and the Pistons can’t play much better. Can the Bulls still win this series? Of course they can, only a fool would write off this team so quickly without playing a home game, but it just seems like it probably won’t happen. Hopefully a little home cooking will be all the Bulls the needed to get back in this series, after all losing by 20 counts the same as losing by 2. The Bulls better hope the UC changes their fortunes, otherwise they are going to be out of round 2 just as quickly as they advanced in round 1.

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