Three Key Matchups for the Chicago Bulls vs. Indiana Pacers Playoff Series

The Midwest is in for a treat in the NBA’s first round match-up featuring the Chicago Bulls and the Indiana Pacers, a series that will feature teams just 3-hours apart. The Bulls enter the playoffs tied for the NBA’s best record- a feat that no one could have predicted going into the season, compared to the the Pacers, the NBA’s only sub-.500 playoff team.

The Pacers were struggling though the year and made a coaching change, letting go of longtime coach Jim O’Brien and replacing him with Larry Vogel, who has improved the club into a playoff team by finishing the season with a .500 record since he took over on January 30th.

As nice of a story as the Pacers’ turnaround has been, they are going against the likely MVP-favorite in Derrick Rose, the likely Coach of the Year-favorite in Tom Thibodeou, and the league’s top defensive team in the top-seeded Chicago Bulls. In the first-versus-eighth seed playoff first round series, here are three key match-ups to take note of as the series progresses:

Derrick Rose vs. Darren Collison
So much has been said about Derrick Rose’s improvement from his second year in the league to his third year. His hard-and-effective play has earned him the MVP as the player most responsible from the Bulls’ jump from an eighth-seed in last year’s playoffs to this year’s best record in the NBA. There’s not a lot I can add to his match-up against Darren Collison, a speedy point guard in his second year out of UCLA, except now I have an excuse to link to Rose’s awesome highlight reel.

Carlos Boozer vs. Tyler Hansbrough and Josh McRoberts
Surprisingly, the match-ups at the power forward position are much closer than you’d think. According to the good folks at 82games.com, the Bulls actually have a lower PER (player efficiency rating) at power forward collectively than the Pacers. This difference could be attributed to the fact that former All-Star Boozer missed 25 games during the regular season and his replacement, Taj Gibson, has battled injuries for most of the season himself.

Either way, Tyler Hansbrough has come off an injury-plagued rookie season to average a respectable 11 points and 5 rebounds with a slightly-above-average 16.43 PER rating, and McRoberts can give the Pacers just enough athleticism and rebounds to make things difficult for Boozer and Gibson.

Danny Granger vs. Luol Deng
These are two players with very similar styles - they both can defend, shoot, drive, and do most things on a court very well. The main difference between these two is the fact that Granger is asked to carry his time while Deng is the team’s third, and sometimes fourth, scoring option.

Granger, when he’s feeling it, can be one of the more dangerous scorers in the league as well, averaging 20.5 points per game, but reaching over 30 points eight times this season and more than 25 points on 26 occasions.

Deng, on the other hand, is one of the NBA’s more under-appreciated players, who is often maligned by the six-year, $71 million contract he signed before the 2008 season. Deng, though, has proven his value by being on the Bulls top-12 most effective lineup possibilities, an impressive feat for someone who logs as many minutes as Deng (39.1, most on the team).

Prediction: Bulls win the seven-game series in four.

*If necessary