The series is over!  The #6 seeded Bulls took out the #3 seed Knicks in a thrilling 4-1 series.  This series was interesting as the Bulls ended the season with 48 wins and the Knicks ended with 57 wins.  On paper, the Knicks should have at least competed a bit more, but they were unable to stop the 3 giant centers that Chicago put out there.  The Bulls likely ended with a lower record mainly due to injury, as Anthony Davis was in and out of the lineup all season, but it was a stroke of genius to play Davis at Shooting Guard all series. 

It is interesting, so far, the away teams have had a lot more success than the home teams this playoff, with the East almost having a sweep of the lower seeds.  One of the big questions will be whether Anthony Davis is considered healthy the rest of the playoffs since it looked like he was basically done for the season in the last Lakers game in the NBA.  I hope he is good to go because nothing ruins series more than injured stars.

Let us look at some of the scores and leading scorers from the games:

Game 1: Chicago wins 132 � 199

MVP: Anthony Davis; 25/3/7

This game was essentially over at halftime, with Chicago up big 71-48.  From there it was all about planning for game 2.  The Knicks starters were all around -20 each, and the bench did not do much better at all.

Game 2: Chicago wins 133 � 100

MVP: Bradley Beal; 33/2/4

This game was closer at half, but then Chicago came out after a halftime pep talk and outscored the knicks 40-24 in the 3^rd.  This game is interesting because the spread was the exact same for this game as it was for game 1.

Game 3: Knicks win: 135 � 110

MVP: Jonas Valanciunas; 29/21/3

Jonas came off the bench with a whopping +32 for the game.  New York was competitive all game and outscored the Knicks 40-26 in the 3^rd quarter.  It is games like this if you wonder if Jonas should be starting instead of Saric or DJ?.... Maybe there are some post-series regrets out there.

Game 4: Bulls win: 146 � 122

MVP: Anthony Davis; 38/7/9

This was Davis�s big game, he shot 4/6 from downtown, and even had 9 assists.  He was uncomfortable most of the series playing out of position, but he was able to come out of his shell and do some damage.  This is another game that was over at halftime with Chicago up 85-64

Game 5: Bulls win: 134 � 115

I will elaborate more later on this, but MVP of this game is Bradley Beal, closing out the series with 46 points!

With that, let us get into some awards!

MVP: Bradley Beal, SG/SF, Chicago Bulls

This was not even hard, Beal averaged 35 ppg for the series, and carried the Bulls every game.  While Anthony Davis was maybe the best actual player on the floor, he was playing out of position at SG, which took him away from the basket and lowered his rebounds and points all series.  Meanwhile, Beal had games of 49 and 46 points to close out the series.  He even guarded the other team�s top scorer in Ingram all series.

6^th Man: Patty Mills, PG/SG, Chicago Bulls/ Jonas Valanciunas, C, New York Knicks

This was hard, as both teams had candidates.  Valanciunas from the Knicks was great all series, averaging a double-double off the bench.  Lou Williams put in around the same number of points as Patty too.  Patty was excellent for the Bulls averaging 10 ppg off the bench and manning multiple positions.  Jonas was maybe the best player for the Knicks all series though, and single-handedly won the only game New York was able to win with.

Most Exciting Game: Game 5

Well, almost every game was a blowout, but Game 5 went into the 4^th quarter with the Knicks up 97-94, so it was a close game.  Then the Bulls just came out and blew the socks off the Knicks outscoring them 40-18 in the 4^th.  Closeout games are always tough, and the Bulls really put the nail in the coffin on this one.  Whiteside had 19 rebounds, John Wall had 11 assists, they really just had a complete game.  They even shot 92% from the free throw line in this game!  You could see that the Knicks stars were not going down without a fight though.  Both Ingram and Middleton scored over 30 points, and Valanciunas chipped in 15 off the bench, but it just was not quite enough to overcome the multiple scoring options that the Bulls have.

GM Comparison: Smokey vs Merencio

Merencio came out with the triple big lineup and did not look back.  He did not look to make many adjustments as his team was just killing it almost every game.  Smokey had a solid squad, but I would have like to have seen him make a move to try to counter Davis at the shooting guard spot.  Middleton averaged 33 ppg in the regular season and Davis held him to just 23 ppg in this series.  Maybe moving Middleton to the SF spot would have been the move to make, as Ingram is much more athletic and may have been able to hand Davis a little bit better.

Moving Forward:

I know that this is not a playoff preview, but I wanted to look forward a bit and see who the next opponent is.  The winner of this series plays the Philadelphia 76ers, and this team is humming right now.  They just beat the Hornets 4-2.  They obviously have LeBron, which will cause a lot of issues at whatever position he is at.  If I were Chicago, I would try to match Anthony Davis up against LeBron.  They also have Horford and Draymond Green, two great defenders.  You really just do not want one of them going up against your best player and shutting him down.  I think Chicago will have an advantage in the next series, but that still remains to be seen.