Joakim Noah vs. Chris Bosh: Noah’s Domination Continues In Game 1
The Chicago Bulls defeated the Miami Heat 93-86 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series on Monday night behind a big win in the Joakim Noah vs. Chris Bosh matchup. The Bulls got strong games from Nate Robinson and Jimmy Butler as a result. Going deeper into the matchup, we see that Noah has been dominating Bosh for a while now and it’s going to continue to be a major problem for the Heat.
Chris Bosh has been ineffective against the Chicago Bulls. Photo Credit: Keith Allison (Flickr.com)
Bosh isn’t a true center and we’re all aware of that. Because of that, he’s often able to take advantage of matchups against slower centers. Bosh is so good at the 15-18 ft. jump shot that opposing centers have to come out to guard him and don’t have the quickness to stick with him when he goes to the basket.
Noah isn’t your typical “slow” center, though. He’s excellent defensively and recovers as quickly as anyone in the league. Because of that, Bosh changes the way he plays against him. Is it fair to say Noah has gotten into the head of Bosh? This quote would agree with that:
Chris Bosh wraps up his media session saying he's tired of answering questions about Joakim Noah.
— Michael Wallace (@MyMikeCheck) May 7, 2013
The stats certainly backup the fact that Bosh plays much differently when Noah is on the court. We’ll take a look at those in a minutes. First, let’s take a look at what Bosh thinks of his game. It’s surprising and his quote shows the kind of hubris that causes teams to lose:
CHRIS BOSH: "We're a No.1 seed for a reason. It would be a shame to think that we need to change something."
— Joseph Goodman, Sports Enthusiast 🎟🍺 (@JoeGoodmanJr) May 7, 2013
During the regular season, the Bulls and Heat played each other four times. In those matchups, Bosh simply stopped going to the basket when Noah was on the court.
| Bosh Shooting | Noah On Court | Noah Off Court |
| Restricted Area | 3-for-4 (75%) | 9-for-11 (81.8%) |
| Mid-Range | 4-for-11 (36.4%) | 4-for-9 (34.6%) |
His game completely changed. He went from taking the majority of his shots (55 percent) from mid-range with Noah on the court, to taking just 34.6 percent from mid-range when Noah went to the bench. He didn’t stop shooting when Noah sat down, he started going to the basket.
Some would say Bosh is changing his game to take advantage of his strengths (or to avoid Noah’s strengths), but whatever the reason is, it’s hurting his team.
In the 2011-12 playoffs, the Heat had trouble with the Indiana Pacers because of Roy Hibbert. Once the Heat started really going to the basket to get Hibbert in foul trouble, they turned the series around.
During the regular season, Bosh had 10 blocks against the Bulls. Every single one of them occurred when Noah was on the bench. He had 77 minutes of court time with Noah on the bench (10 blocks) and 60 minutes with Noah on the court (zero blocks).
Joakim Noah is a beast on the glass that draws a lot of attention. Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com
Bosh has had to concentrate so much on keeping Noah off the glass, that he can’t rotate and help out as much as he needs to. This opens up the lane for guys like Robinson to have big games. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade can only do so much to help. They have their own responsibilities.
Coach Erik Spoelstra needs to figure out a way to keep Noah and the Bulls off the glass. Game 1 was a total failure, with the Bulls +14 on the glass. Noah is in Bosh’s head and it’s going to affect the entire Heat team. You saw it in Game 1 and you’ll see it throughout this series.