Without even mentioning the staggering amount of anecdotal data where blatant calls went in the Heat favor (or were completely made up), think about these numbers, then remember Lebron's wink.
In 5 games, the Bulls:

• made more 6 field goals
• made 11 more 3 point field goals
• had 35 more offensive rebounds
• had 21 more total rebounds (the Heat had more defensive rebounds because they had more opportunity - the Bulls took a staggering 67 more shots)
  
• had 18 more assists
• had 16 fewer turnovers

and yet, they lost. If you want to see what a fixed outcome looks like, look no further than this - the Bulls were outscored by a total of 13 points; however, the Bulls were called for 19 more fouls and the Heat shot 29 more free throws.  - 29 FTAs? 13 points?  Hmmm, what a shock that they won.  The fix was in.  There is no amount of good play or good outside shooting that can overcome a team being constantly bumped when driving or shooting at the rim with no call (those go down as 0-1 in the box score and greatly affected our FG%).  You can talk about whether Rose should have played better or not (he probably averages 5 more ppg in an unbiased refereeing situation), but these numbers show the point - the Bulls played better, all things considered.  The refs made sure the NBA got the outcome they wanted.

Mavs host the Thunder at 8CST/9EST tonight.  Who ya got?  Who would you rather face?

I don't really understand the Mavs love I seem to be hearing from national commentators.  They're on a hot streak, sure, but do they really matchup with the Thunder?  Can Kidd/Barea guard Westbrook (if Westbrook isn't shooting himself in the feet?)?  Doubtful.  Who even tries to guard Durant on the Mavs?  Marion or Peja?  Both are awful defenders, so that's a nightmare matchup for the Mavs.  And I think Ibaka can at least slow down Dirk, and Perkins is more physical than Chandler to clean up the inside.  And the Thunder bench is better than the Mavs bench, other than Terry, who plays starter minutes anyway.  The Mavs are terrible rebounders and will likely get destroyed on the glass as well.

I'd rather play the Mavs because I think we matchup better should we make it to the Finals as well, but I think the Thunder have many advantages over the Mavs, and Bulls-Thunder would be the more entertaining series.

Luol Deng Steal

Where is the contact?  The strip looks clean.  The only contact is Lebron grabbing Deng's arm.  Total B.S.

Second, has the NBA admitted any error for the no technical on 6 men on the court on the Heat?  I know Salvatore admitted the Hawks Game 5 "inadvertant whistle" call should have been a foul, so I hope they'll come out and admit the wrong again.

I suspect this will not be the end of the fishy calls this series.

I doubt that many people would regret hitting the lottery, but I checked out Ben's stats today and not only is he playing fewer minutes than ever before, but he's scoring less as well, and generally seems to be just another bench player on the Pistons roster.  If I was him, I would be thinking I wish I had taken less money to be a bigger part of a winning organization.

I don't really know if Ben would have worked out here with Rose, and I think that Korver could be useful, but it would have been interesting to see Rose play with Ben.  Ben would have certainly had a ton of open looks given the attention that Rose draws, though I will admit a lot of Ben's usefuleness came with him playing on the ball.  Starting lineup of Rose-Ben-Deng-Boozer-Noah would be a lot better offensively, with possibly Brewer off the bench to be a defensive substitution (or another defensive stopper at the 2, given our salary cap considerations). 

I just have to think he sees what has happened in Chicago and has to be thinking he wishes he was still a part of it.  His career is slowly descending into being an afterthought around the league.

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This was my first Bulls (or any NBA) game in 12 years.  I live in Pittsburgh and I hadn't been able to make it up to Cleveland for any game for a while, and really, going up to see the likes of Lonny Baxter and Marcus Fizer in the last 12 years hasn't been too appealing.  It was so much fun to see the Bulls with a roster full of talent again, and I got to sit about 13 rows of the court, which was really cool.  Some thoughts on what I saw.

• Korver is an amazing shooter.  It's impressive just to watch him warm up.  Everything is so smooth and effortless. Watching his 4th quarter was like watching NBA Jam when someone gets on fire.  And something that I didn't think I've ever seen from him was that he was calling for the ball when he was hot, and was visibly annoyed when the play went away from him during that streak with Rose out.  I like that competitiveness and hadn't seen it from him before, especially since he was really feeling it.
• Brewer is a great great athlete.  Some of the defensive plays he made on picks out top were very smartly executed.  He either has some serious defensive instincts or he has put in some time studying defensive strategy, because he was constantly feeding the ballhandler exactly into the area of the court he wanted to cause disruption in their offense.  He is also a really underrated rebounder.  He really crashes on both ends.  And I still think he got jobbed on that block of that layup.  It was a great play and I don't think it was goaltending.  He came a long way in a hurry to make that play.
• Deng was so-so, and I thought he definitely disappeared at times.  He also missed a number of wide open shots from what I remember.  But, he did make a really great hustle play near the end of the game when he dove for a loose ball in the corner at Varejao's feet, which caused him to wildly throw it back into the court which led to a fast break for us.  Great hustle there by Deng.
• Boozer had an off night, but I just think the matchup killed him.  Jamison was playing the 4 for the Cavs and he's too quick for Boozer. I am glad that we can throw Watson at the 2 and Brewer and Deng at 3/4 and still be a good defensive (and rebounding) team when other teams go small against us.
• Noah got screwed on a number of calls last night.  I feel like the refs had it out for him.  There were a number of times on the offensive end that he got called for some ticky tack stuff, and then that sequence when he got fouled going up for layups twice in a row and got no call was kind of ridiculous considering what he was being called for.  In any event, great great game from him.  He dominated the boards, as he should against a team like Cleveland with poor bigs.
• Rose is amazing,and I am so glad I got to see him play in person.  He is simply incredible.  The speed at which he can blow by his defender, the ballhandling in tight quarters (especially when splitting defenders), the strength with which he can fight through fouls on his way to the hoop - all just plus plus skills.  It seems to me that no matter how big the guy is that fouls him or hard he is fouled, he never seems to lose body control while in the air.  It's really incredible.  Also loved last night how anytime Cleveland would go on a run, he would be the one to step up and end it.  I think in the 2nd quarter they went on a little run and he came down and hit a 3.  I love the confidence and the leadership he shows to do something like that.

All in all, a fun game to see, but it was weird that it was as close as it was.  I thought they were outplaying the Cavs for the majority of the game (though giving up too many open 3 pointers, which seems to be a problem all year so far), but that the ball just wasn't bouncing their way.  Cleveland was just hitting too many 3s for the first few quarters, and thankfully they cooled off (and started taking some seriously wild shots - that 3 by Gibson on the left wing with like 2 minutes left was a terrible terrible shot).  Cleveland also seemed to get a lot of fortuitous bounces on offensive rebounds, and got a few questionable calls too, whether they were offensive fouls or loose ball fouls on offensive rebounding for the Bulls.  Just a strange game, but it was fun to be there to see them pull it out.