Four Stories to Watch During the Chicago Bulls vs. Atlanta Hawks Series

The NBA Playoffs continue into the second round as the Chicago Bulls take on the Atlanta Hawks, the fifth seed who just recently upset the Dwight Howard-led Orlando Magic.

Many of the experts and pundits have pegged this as a five or six game series, with the Bulls emerging victorious and advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. Not all of them, however. Some expect Atlanta’s athleticism and length to disrupt the young Bulls team, wear them down, and extend the series into the seventh game.

It looks to be an exciting series, and here are the four key story lines you should be paying attention to as the series progresses.

What will Carlos Boozer’s Return Look Like?
For all intents and purposes, with the exception of Game 2 in the Chicago-Indiana series, Carlos Boozer has had an awful start to the playoffs. Boozer was called for early fouls in just about every gameaffecting his aggressiveness and decisiveness. He only averaged 10 points on 36% shooting compared to the 17 points he averaged on 51% shooting when he was healthy during the regular season.

Late last week after the Bulls won Game 5, it was reported that Boozer had turf toe, an injury that usually takes professional football players several weeks to heal fully. Turf toe is basically having super-inflamed tendons on a toe. Sounds painful? Imagine lugging 270 pounds on the injury up and down the court.

Normally, I would argue that losing your team’s highest-paid player and biggest free-agent acquisition would be a bad thing. Normally. The Bulls have played excellent without Boozer, and with the defensive emergence of the offensively-talented Taj Gibson, the Bulls aren't actually set back that far. Before Game 1, Boozer announced that he would try out his injured toe and he expects to play. It will be interesting to see how that decision plays out.

Will Kirk Hinrich Return?
Bulls fans remember Kirk Hinrich as the seventh pick in the insanely loaded 2003 draft and the starting point guard on Chicago for six seasons. “Captain Kirk” was always a well-liked, solid player for the team, and after he was traded at the deadline last season, he had sort of gone off to Washington to “go to pasture”.

Midway through this season though, Hinrich was traded to Atlanta to give the Hawks a solid offensive point guard who could bring some energy to the sometimes-lifeless Hawks (and his own career an bit of a boost). It turns out that Hinrich has become the Hawks' main defensive threat and someone who Derrick Rose has admitted gives him the most trouble out of anyone in the league.

Luckily for the Bulls, Hinrich was injured in Game 6 of Atlanta’s series against the Orlando Magic, and the Hawks must now rely on the defensively-shaky Jamal Crawford and Jeff Teague to stop the league’s likely Most Valuable Player in Rose. If Hinrich returns, he likely won’t be at 100%, but it would still be an improvement over the Crawford and Teague combination. In fact, his absence will likely force Atlanta into a situation in which they are playing a new defensive style, more similar to what the Pacers did in Round 1. Stay tuned.

Noah vs. Horford
Since each being drafted in the top 10 in 2006, after winning back-to-back National Championships at the University of Florida, Joakim Noah and Al Horford have formed one of the NBA’s quietest but most interesting rivalries.

Noah, the defensive agitator, and Horford, the offensive match-up nightmare, have each created a great niche as cornerstones of their respective franchise’s futures. It's an old-school rivalry where both guys clearly like each other, but want to make themselves look good while they make the other look bad. Every time these two play each other, you can see they’re constantly trying to work harder and out-do the other. I love it.

Both big men are among the NBA's elite despite only being in the league a few years, and both are just two reasons why this series will be fun to watch.

Luol Deng vs Josh Smith
To describe the match-up between Luol Deng and Josh Smith in one word? I would use “athletic”. Deng and Smith are each lean, tall, and long, and each player presents problems for their opponents in just about any match-up. While Smith is usually mentioned more as a shot-blocker, Deng does a good job of forcing his opponent into taking jump shots because of the difficulty involved in getting around his quick 6’9 frame (and 7’0 wingspan).

Offensively, the two couldn’t be any more different. Smith is a drive-first player, using his explosiveness and sometimes unmatched jumping ability to soar to the basket and make highlight play after highlight play. (In recent season, I must admit, his ability to hit mid-range jump shots has improved greatly). Deng, on the other hand, tends to shoot jumpers and three pointers first, and only recently has made the adjustment to take the ball more aggressively to the basket.

The two players’ strengths play right in to the other’s weaknesses, and it will be interesting to witness which of the two gets the upper-hand on a game-to-game basis.