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The Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls Battle in the Eastern Conference Finals

The Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls are the last two teams standing in the East and will play for the right to raise a championship banner.
This series could turn into a battle between Derrick Rose, the MVP of the Bulls and LeBron James, the star of the Heat.
LeBron James had asked to be the center of the greatest recruiting chase in basketball history and six breathless franchises didn’t disappoint last summer.
They made in-person presentations and cooed through the phone. They used general managers and coaches, and friends and friends of friends. They brought in former players and current players, and anyone else they thought might make a difference.
The process left LeBron showered with attention and inundated with calls and texts and desperate pleas. This was exactly what he wanted, to be the center of it all. The list of recruiters was so thorough – even President Obama voiced an opinion (go to Chicago, the commander-in-chief commanded) – that one person stood out by his absence.
That one player is Derrick Rose.
The Chicago Bulls wanted LeBron, too. They visited him in Cleveland. They sold everything they had to offer – tradition, Jordan, the big market. They went after Dwyane Wade, offering a return to his hometown. They did everything they possibly could except ask Derrick Rose to become a recruiter, even though he probably would’ve obliged, the good soldier and all.
Rose never saw it as his job to become a salesman, though. He’s a player. He’s a pro. If LeBron James wanted to talk about playing for the Bulls, well, the phone works two ways. Besides, Chicago already had a small forward in Luol Deng, and where’s the loyalty in trying to bring a guy in to replace your teammate?
Eventually the silence became loud enough that it boomeranged back to Rose. The speculation was that by not calling LeBron, he was telling the King he didn’t want him in Chicago. The whole vapid process had gotten so crossways that Rose felt he had to reach out and explain things.
James, of course, would take his talents to South Beach, joining Wade and Chris Bosh to form this tour de force. And Derrick Rose, by all accounts, just shrugged his shoulders and went to work.He was going for the crown no matter who wanted to ride with him.
Now here they all are again, this time in the Eastern Conference finals, starting Sunday in Chicago. The formidable Heat got past the Celtics on Wednesday in an emotion-packed scene. The Bulls blitzed the Atlanta Hawks here Thursday, 93-73, and walked off the court with little fanfare.
Now Rose will get a chance to prove his team is just fine without James. The Bulls will beat the heat in game one in Chicago.
Play on the Chicago Bulls
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