Hoops4theSoul

May

2

What Spring in Chicago Is Supposed to Be

Filed Under Analysis/Commentary, NBA, Chicago Bulls

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Michael Jordan in 1992 Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews Derrick Rose Bulls-Celtics.

First Round, Game Seven tonight.

Hawks-Canucks.

Second Round, Game Two tonight.

Feels like 1992 all over again in some ways to me.

During that magical spring, Chicago was swept up in Bulls and Blackhawks’ fever.

Jordan. Pippen. Chelios. Roenick. Belfour.

Those were the names of just some of the individuals who produced the unimaginable for this city, two teams sharing the same building — the rocking Chicago Stadium — and marching through the playoffs.

For the Hawks, things were easy after a scary start. After falling down 0-2 to St. Louis in the first round, Chicago reeled off 12 straight victories in the playoffs, sweeping the Red Wings in the second round and beating Edmonton in four to become the Campbell Conference champions.

For the Bulls, things started easy and got much harder. After sweeping the Heat in three games, the Bulls were pushed to the limit before beating the Knicks in seven games. Thanks to a late comeback in Game Six, the Bulls were able to avoid going seven with the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Blackhawks would run into a hot team itself in the Stanley Cup Finals, the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins. Of course, the Penguins would sweep the Hawks in four games and in doing so win its twelfth straight game of the 1992 NHL playoffs.

Defending champions as well, the Bulls would outlast the talented Portland Trail Blazers in a six-game series that produced six threes and an incredulous shrug from Michael Jordan in Game One at the Chicago Stadium and an amazing Bulls’ comeback from 17 points in the fourth quarter of the series clinching game.

Tonight, the Bulls and Hawks once again play in big playoff games.

While the Bulls are nowhere near the level of being a champion and the Hawks are very young and most likely a year or two away (you never know though for this year when taking into account the craziness of the NHL playoffs), it feels good to have both teams be back in the playoffs at the same time.

Both teams feature outstanding young kids — the Bulls lucked into 20-year-old homegrown rookie Derrick Rose while the Hawks have pinned its future on the shoulders of 21-year-old Jonathan Toews and 20-year-old Patrick Kane — who should have their teams competitive for years to come.

And both teams are going into big offseasons — the Bulls must figure out what to do with unrestricted free agent Ben Gordon and should be monitoring the scene for a legitimate scoring big man while the Hawks will have to decide whether to resign Martin Havlat and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin in addition to making any other tweaks to bolster a young core — that could accelerate future success.

While the Bulls could lose tonight and go home for the summer, and the Hawks are guaranteed nothing as well, things are looking bright for both teams in a city where it’s all about the Cubs and Bears, unfortunately.

The expectations aren’t quite the same as 1992, but the excitement is quite comparable.

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