LeBron James reacts to a call during the Heat-Bulls game on Jan. 29. (GETTY IMAGES)

Sometimes riding bicycles is the best motive of transportation. You get a good workout in before your shift and you don’t have to deal with all the stress of traffic.

That’s exactly what LeBron James was thinking when he decided to use his custom “King James” cycle to get to American Airlines Arena before Sunday’s afternoon game against the Chicago Bulls. ABC sideline reporter Lisa Salters broke the news about James’ new ride during the Heat-Bulls game, and the unique exercise – as well as the red, black and silver bicycle – got plenty of air time on national TV.

When Salters asked James if the bike ride had anything to do with his strong first half, he said: “My legs feel really good. It felt good to get open field and get a bike ride in and be prepared for today’s game.”

James finished with a game-high 35 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and one block on 12-for-23 shooting in 41 minutes to help Miami defeat Chicago, 97-93. He also had a spectacular alley-oop dunk in which he jumped over John Lucas. A nice day’s work for one of the most physically fit athletes in the NBA.

Since the league is promoting NBA Fit this week, LeBron figured what better way to get fit than to ride a bike hours before tipoff. Maybe he should consider riding a stationary bike before the fourth quarter of each game? Might calm his nerves.

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LeBron James' defense was a big reason why the Miami Heat eliminated Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls. (GETTY IMAGES)

Watching Derrick Rose go right at LeBron James in the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the 2011 Eastern Conference was pure basketball magic. It’s not often when you see the reigning league MVP and the two-time league MVP going head-to-head for much of the fourth quarters in the Heat-Bulls series.

Rose unleashed his best moves and best shots. If Rose literally had a bag of tricks, he probably emptied it out in this series. However, each time Rose tried to catch fire, James was there to snuff it out. In the end, it was LeBron’s size, power and quickness that uncovered the secret to stopping the mercurial Rose.

As good as James was on offense in Game 5 – and he was pretty darn good with a game-high 28 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter – he was even better on the defensive end, locking up Rose with a smothering man-to-man defense that would have made NFL shutdown corner Darrelle Revis proud.

“You kill the head of the snake,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said of the key to stopping the Chicago Bulls, obviously referring to Rose.

Easy for Wade to say because he was mostly a spectator when it came time to defending Rose, but his good friend and first-team All-NBA defender LeBron James took on the challenge of shutting down the 22-year-old Bulls star.

Even though Rose scored 117 points (25-point average) in the series, which the Heat ended in five grueling games, it took him 120 field goal attempts to reach that mark. It meant that nothing came easy for Rose, especially the last two games in which he was a combined 17-for-56 from the field and 3-for-17 from 3-point range.

In Game 5 Rose was 9-for-29 from the field, and James was a big reason why. James kept Rose out of the paint, forced him to shoot over his 6-foot-8, 265-pound frame, and smothered his passes. Every time Rose tried to create offense either for himself or for his teammates, James was there to take away all his options.

After the Bulls took a 77-65 lead with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, James tightened his hold on Rose and allowed the Heat to mount a comeback. Wade and James took turns in dropping baskets on the Bulls, and at the one-minute mark the game was tied at 79. Wade and James combined for 24 points in the fourth quarter.

The Bulls still had an opportunity to pull out the win, but Rose made a critical turnover thanks to great defense, again, by James as he tipped Rose’s pass when the Bulls guard tried to swing the ball to the right. James came up with the loose ball and seconds later he dropped a cold-blooded jumper over Ronnie Brewer near the top of the arc for an 81-79 Heat lead.

On the Bulls’ final possession, down by three and 16 seconds left, Rose tried to create space on the left side of the court to set up a possible game-tying 3-pointer, but he ran into Udonis Haslem and then James finished off his defensive gem with a clean block as time expired on the Bulls’ season. Game. Set. Match. Checkmate.

Derrick Rose may be the most valuable player in the NBA, but LeBron James clearly remains the best athlete in the NBA and it’s not even close.

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Miami Heat forward Chris Bosh is quietly silencing his critics in the 2011 Eastern Conference finals. (US PRESSWIRE)

Prior to the start of the 2011 Eastern Conference finals, Chicago Bulls forward Carlos Boozer hinted that the Miami Heat have only two real superstars on the team, an obvious slap-in-the-face directed at Heat forward Chris Bosh.

Bosh claims he wasn’t upset with the comment, but you bet he read Boozer’s remark and wasn’t very pleased about it. Some players say they’re not affected by bulletin-board material, but every athlete in the world uses every little diss, no matter how big or small, as motivation.

Three games into the Heat-Bulls series, Bosh is playing like a man looking to put a muzzle on someone (hello Mr. Boozer!). He scored 30 points in Game on 12-of-18 shooting, and in a pivotal Game in Miami the supposed third wheel in the Big Three cog poured in 34 points on 13-of-18 shooting to push the Heat to a 2-1 series edge.

“I just want to be aggressive and have some kind of imprint in this series,” Bosh told TNT’s Craig Sager. “I had an aggressive Game 1. Game 2 was so-so but we still won. Here on our home floor I just wanted to be aggressive and it turned out to be a good game.”

Bosh has been so efficient in the series that even even the outspoken Joakim Noah has nothing but good things to say about the much-maligned Heat star. “He played excellent,” Noah said.

LeBron James said he changed his game plan in Game 3 to accommodate Bosh, allowing him to get more looks at the basket. “If I needed to get it going offensively I could, but the great thing about it is CB had it going. When we have someone on our team going, we continue to give the ball to him. The team feeds off his energy offensively and he brought it home for us.”

Bosh is without a doubt winning his one-on-one battle with Boozer, who has been real quiet in this series. Boozer did post nice numbers in Game 3 (26 points and 17 rebounds), but he only had 14 and 9 and 7 and 8 the previous two games, not exactly the type of numbers the Bulls were hoping from their high-priced free agent acquisition during the summer.

If the Heat are going to advance to the NBA Finals, the Heat know they need Bosh to play like an All-Star. Statistics show the Heat almost unbeatable when Bosh plays well. And so far the former Toronto Raptor is making Boozer eat his words.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Derrick Rose celebrates with his teammates after a dominant win in Game 1 of the 2011 Eastern Conference finals. (GETTY IMAGES)

First of all, let me apologize to the Chicago Bulls for underestimating their greatness. Apparently, I’ve been listening to too many pundits who have already crowned the Heat as NBA champs once the Lakers and Celtics were eliminated from the playoff picture.

Put a big hold on that NBA Finals party in South Beach because the Bulls are not going away anytime soon. The top-seeded team in the 2011 Eastern Conference playoffs dismantled the star-studded Heat by 21 points in Game 1 of Eastern Conference finals and, the way the Bulls suffocated the Heat defensively, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James will need to be extra special for Miami to win this series.

What’s really stunning about Game 1 was the way James was completely taken out of the game by Bulls forward Luol Deng. Deng is a good defender, but the way he locked up James was absolutely ridiculous. Compounding matters was the way Deng outplayed James on offense, outscoring the two-time NBA MVP 21 to 15 and held him to 5-of-15 shooting from the field.

Despite his stellar defensive effort, Deng refused to take full credit.

“All of us as a team did a good job on all those guys,” Deng said. “We all know LeBron is a great player. He missed some shots he normally makes, we’re not going to take all the credit.”

He added, “We’re not playing the matchup game. We’re playing the team game. We’re just trying to win the game however we win it. Just coming out hungry, just coming out aggressive. We believe in each other, and that’s making us a good team this year.”

Now, I’m not going to jump ship and proclaim Derrick Rose the greatest player on the planet and the Bulls the greatest show on Earth. However, the Heat truly have their work cut out for them to try to figure out how to solve this puzzling Chicago defense, which has now defeated Miami four times this season.

“We took it on the chin tonight,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “Second-chance points was a big factor. Offensively, we got away from the things we normally do and went a little sideways in all those effort battles. Their defense was good, and we anticipated that. Their a great defensive team. You have to be able to execute.”

Spoelstra comes for the Pat Riley school of coaching, and Riley always emphasized that “no rebounds, no rings.” In Game 1, the Bulls outrebounded the Heat, 45-33, and came up with 19 offensive rebounds. The Bulls had a 31-8 advantage in second-chance points, a stat that certainly didn’t sit well with Spoelstra.

“They just took it to another level. The offensive rebounding really affected us,” the Heat coach said. “We had some great stops, but we were not able to come up with the 50-50 ball or rebound to seal it, and they made us pay.”

Also, Chicago’s game plan defensively is obvious: wall off Wade and James, and make Chris Bosh Miami’s primary scorer.

“They’re loading their defense so much on Dwyane and LeBron off the dribble that [Chris Bosh] was able to be a recipient in the paint,” Spoelstra explained why Bosh had a team-high 30 points.

“We’ll adjust, but certainly the fist fight under the glass will be the start.”

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter at: twitter.com/onemanfastbreak.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Bulls guard Derrick Rose drives through Pacers Danny Granger (back) and Paul George (right) during Game 5 of the 2011 Eastern Conference first-round series in Chicago. (GETTY IMAGES)

Injuries are always going to play a major role in sports, but they get magnified in the playoffs, and especially when it’s a star player. Derrick Rose of Chicago and Kobe Bryant of Los Angeles were both questionable with sprained ankles as they headed into Tuesday’s games, but like the warriors they are, their ankles weren’t a problem.

The Bulls went into their Game 5 matchup with Indiana looking to send the pesky Pacers home, and the focus for those betting on the NBA spread was on Rose’s ankle as he was seen in a walking boot prior to tip-off. But during the game, the only worry for Rose was foul trouble, and he even shook that off to drop 25 points in a 116-89 thrashing of the Pacers at home. Rose fueled a third-quarter run that put the game out of reach for the Bulls, and now he has a couple of days to rest his ankle before the next round.

The Lakers were a bit more worried about Bryant heading into their Game 5 clash with New Orleans, but all questions were answered in the second quarter when Bryant drove the lane and dunked on Emeka Okafor, which really gave the Lakers a spark en route to a 106-90 romp.

Lakers guard Kobe Bryant throws down a spectacular slam dunk over Hornets center Emeka Okafor. (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Bryant was one of six Lakers in a balanced performance, but clearly he was the star of the show and it brought us back to young Kobe, the one who wore No.8 and had a small afro back in the day when he was taking Brandy to his prom. Young Kobe did that seemingly once a game and if you were in his way, you were in trouble. It was also encouraging to see that Bryant didn’t have to jack up 30 shots for the Lakers to be effective; they feed off his energy regardless.

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Derrick Rose is averaging a career-best 25 points per game this season. (GETTY IMAGES)

After his 30-point performance against the Boston Celtics on national TV on Thursday night, Chicago Bulls All-Star guard Derrick Rose may have just clinched the NBA most valuable player award.

Rose put on a spectacular show against one of the best defensive teams in the league, getting to the rim at will and destroying his old nemesis Rajon Rondo in the process. In a week when the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant struggled against non-playoff teams Utah and Golden State, the Heat’s LeBron James suffered an embarrassing loss to Milwaukee at home, and the Magic’s Dwight Howard was assessed his 18th technical foul that could result in a one-game suspension, Derrick Rose rose above his peers and turned a close MVP race into a runaway. Might as well carve his name on the Maurice Podoloff trophy now because no one is going to catch him.

Rose cemented his MVP claim with a spectacular but efficient game against the Celtics, making nine of 16 shots from the field and draining two of his five 3-pointers – a shot he severely lacked when he came into the NBA. He added eight assists, five rebounds and two steals for good measure.

When Rose is making outside jumpers beyond 15 feet, you might as well call it a night because no one in the league can stay in front of him when he decides to attack. Basically, two things will happen: 1) he’ll embarrass you at the rim with some ridiculous circus shot, or 2) he’ll draw a foul. He rarely misses when he’s that close to the basket. Rose went to the free throw line 10 times vs. the Celtics and converted all 10 foul shots.

With Rose leading the charge, the Bulls – who have won 17 of their last 19 games – have secured the No. 1 seeding (barring a complete collapse) in the Eastern Conference, meaning the Celtics, Heat and Magic will have to win a game at the United Center in order to win a series against the Bulls.

“Like it or not these are probably the guys who we’ll meet in the conference finals or wherever,” said Rondo, who was thoroughly outplayed by Rose in the Bulls’ 97-81 win Thursday, a night when Scottie Pippen was honored with a bronze statue at halftime.

First-year head coach Tom Thibodeau, a former Celtics assistant, has the Bulls playing at an optimum level and the whole team has bought into his defensive concept. But when it comes to offense, Thibodeau has put the ball in the hands of his third-year guard and the former Memphis Tiger has responded with the best season of his young NBA career.

He’s averaging 25 points per game, almost eight assists and 1.1 steals. He’s also shooting the 3-ball at 33%, which is almost seven points higher than his percentage a year ago. He’s also making 85% of his free throws, which is nine points better than last year. But above all the stats is the way Rose has kept his team near the top of the conference for most of the season despite injuries to starters Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer, and the Bulls are headed to their best regular-season record since No. 23 and No. 33 were together in Chicago.

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Dennis Rodman was a five-time NBA world champion, twice with the Pistons and three times with the Bulls. (GETTY IMAGES)

Dennis Rodman, the former Detroit Piston and Chicago Bull star who took eccentric into a whole new stratosphere, says he was informed on Thursday that he’ll become one of the newest members of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

The official announcement won’t come until Monday, but in typical Rodman fashion he couldn’t wait to tell the world that he will be immortalized and his name will forever bear “Hall-of-Famer” next to it.

The announcement shouldn’t come as a shock. Rodman deserves the recognition because based on on-court performance the man who was affectionately called The Worm was one of basketball’s all-time best at his position, and when you are considered “the best” you belong in the halls of Springfield.

Rodman was a member of five NBA championship teams (two with the Pistons and three with the Bulls) and named defensive player of the year twice. Only Bill Russell and Scottie Pippen should be ranked ahead of Rodman when it came to defending the basketball. Rodman was honored Friday night by the Detroit Pistons, who retired his No. 10 jersey during halftime of their game against the Chicago Bulls.

Nothing was ever given to Rodman, and he had to work for every thing good that came his way. The second-round draft pick out of tiny Southeastern Oklahoma revolutionized the game with his unique ability to defend every position and non-stop pursuit of every rebound.

Even when he became a caricature of himself, with all the tattoos and the piercings and the 24-7 partying, Rodman remained one of the game’s top power forwards. And he also never got credit for possessing a very high basketball IQ.

Phil Jackson, considered the greatest NBA coach of all time, said on more than one occasion that Rodman was one of the smartest players he has ever coached, noting that Rodman quickly learned his complicated triangle offense without a hitch.

Rodman was among 12 finalists for the Hall of Fame this year along with players such as Jamaal Wilkes, Maurice Cheeks, Chris Mullin and Ralph Sampson. The induction ceremony is in August.

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LeBron James claims he is keeping a journal to document all the haters who ridiculed him for jilting Cleveland for Miami this past summer. What he should be focusing on is rehabilitating his shattered image and learning how to make better decisions in the future. It had nothing to do with race, LeBron!

On the court, expect nothing less than another MVP season from the NBA’s reigning most valuable player – and he’ll have Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to lean on when things get too heavy. There is little doubt that the new-look and new-improved Miami Heat is the beast of the Eastern Conference for the 2010-11 season. But there are two other teams in the East who could crash the party in South Beach: Boston and Orlando.

The Celtics, last time we checked, is the defending Eastern Conference champions and, when healthy, they remain a powerhouse. And you can’t find a more tough-minded ballclub. Last year, head coach Doc Rivers managed some of his “older” players so that they are ready to go for the playoffs. Expect much of the same this season, as Rivers will lean on Rajon Rondo even more during the regular season and the roles of bench players Nate Robinson and Glen Davis could expand.

At one point during last year’s playoffs, the Magic were the sexy pick to make the NBA Finals. But something went terrible wrong during the series with the Celtics and the Magic left very disappointed. Orlando is probably regretting not re-signing Hedo Turkoglu because Wince Carter can’t be relied on during crunch time. Dwight Howard must add some post-up moves to his game in order to lift the Magic past the Heat and Celtics.

The rest of the conference will be fighting for the other five spots. Chicago and Milwaukee will be competing for the Central Division title, and with it homecourt advantage in the first round. Atlanta has been moving up the ladder the past two seasons, but the Hawks have some in-house issues they must address. Larry Brown is good enough to get Charlotte in the playoffs, but the Bobcats may max out at No. 6-7. The final two playoff berths will come down to Charlotte, New York, Washington and Cleveland (yes, even without LeBron).

OneManFastBreak.net publisher and editor Joel Huerto predicts the eight teams that will make the Eastern Conference playoffs:

1. MIAMI HEAT (Projected record: 66-16)
The moment LeBron said “he’s taking his talents to South Beach” the Miami Heat instantly became the team to beat in the East. Nothing against the Boston Celtics or the Orlando Magic, the last two NBA finalists from the conference, but the reloaded Heat have the recipe for an NBA title. They have arguably two of the best perimeter players in the league in James and D-Wade, an All-Star forward in Bosh who won’t clog the lane and is a decent rebounder, a capable sniper in Mike Miller and a veteran frontline that includes Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Udonis Haslem. And don’t underestimate Erik Spoelstra as a game manager. There is a reason why Pat Riley handpicked him to take over the Heat program.

Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James haven't played a meaningful game together as members of the Miami Heat, but they're still favored to win the East. (GETTY IMAGES)

2. ORLANDO MAGIC (Projected record: 60-22)
Stan Van Gundy is a very underrated head coach, and he certainly has a great feel for this Orlando team. Van Gundy has point guard Jameer Nelson to execute his offense, and Nelson has been playing at an all-star level the past two seasons. The plight of the Magic starts and ends with all-world center Dwight Howard. If Howard ever decides to improve on his low-post skills and become a more consistent, then the Magic could move into championship level. But if Howard stays status quo, then the Magic will fall back into the second tier of NBA contenders.

3. BOSTON CELTICS (Projected record: 58-24)
The Celtics are a year older and another deep postseason run has added more mileage to Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Doc Rivers claims that KG will be better this season because his leg is now completely healed, but Rivers may be underestimating Garnett’s odometer. Pierce came into training camp in great shape, losing at least 10 pounds. Despite his advanced age, Allen remains a top gun in the league and he’ll have a better backup in Delonte West. Young guns Rajon Rondo, Nate Robinson and Glen Davis will need to do most of the heavy lifting during the regular season to keep the old guys fresh for the playoffs.

4. CHICAGO BULLS (Projected record: 54-28)
This season, Derrick Rose will have to adjust to a new head coach in Tom Thibodeau and a new backcourt partner with the departure of the very dependable Kirk Hinrich, who really complemented Rose well the past two seasons. Free agents Ronnie Brewer and Kyle Korver will share time at shooting guard. The addition of power forward Carlos Boozer – whenever he’s ready to come off the injured list  – will help Chicago’s points in the paint and provide much-needed help to Joakim Noah on the boards. Boozer sets excellent screens and should fit into the Bulls’ pick-and-roll sets.

5. MILWAUKEE BUCKS (Projected record: 52-30)
Scott Skiles is one of the most underrated coaches in the league and that was more evident last year when he pieced together a broken-down team and got them to the playoffs. Skiles’ floor general is second-year point guard Brandon Jennings, who could have easily been the 2010 Rookie of the Year. With a year under his belt, including a playoff appearance, Jennings is ready to take that next step and jump into the conversation that includes Rondo, CP3, D-Will, D-Rose, Nash and Westbrook. A healthy Andrew Bogut is the only thing keeping the Bucks from winning the Central Division.

6. ATLANTA HAWKS (Projected record: 51-31)
After winning 53 games last season, the Hawks will take a step back this season. The Hawks gave a ton of money to Joe Johnson (probably undeserved), but didn’t really improve their roster. With powerhouses Miami and Orlando in the same division, the Hawks will be hard-pressed to duplicate last year’s feat. Larry Drew takes over for Mike Woodson, who did a nice job rebuilding the Hawks but just couldn’t get them into the first tier. Drew is contemplating about moving undersized center Al Horford to power forward, move that will surely force Marvin  Williams to the bench. Reigning Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford wants a new deal, but after giving Joe J. a fat $124 million contract, Crawford will be lucky if he remains in the ATL.

7. CHARLOTTE BOBCATS (Projected record: 46-36)
Larry Brown is one of the best Xs and O’s bench jockeys in league history, and he will need every ounce of his teaching skills to get this Bobcats team into the playoffs again. Charlotte will lean heavily on swingmen Stephen Jackson and Gerald Wallace to set the tone for the tough-minded Bobcats, who led the league in defense last season. D.J. Augustin will take over the role of starting point guard with the departure of Raymond Felton. Brown has always preferred Augustin over Felton anyways so this shouldn’t be a tough transition. The biggest weakness for Charlotte is its ineptness on the offensive end. When Jackson is not hitting his shots and Wallace is sidelined (which is guaranteed to happen), the Bobcats can barely score 70 points.

8. WASHINGTON WIZARDS (Projected record: 43-39)
How good is John Wall? He’s good enough to push the Wizards into the playoffs this season. The 2010 first overall pick out of the University of Kentucky is a special player, and he will be the 2011 Rookie of the Year. Wall destroyed the competition at the NBA Summer Pro League in Las Vegas and paired really well with young stud JaVale McGee, who nearly made the U.S. national team. The addition of Kirk Hinrich helps the Wizards in a couple of ways: 1) he adds a veteran presence on offense and 2) he’s a lock-down defender, something the Wizards have never had since their Washington Bullets days. Gilbert Arenas has a lot to prove this season and could contend for Comeback Player of the Year.

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There are several reports that LeBron James could be headed to Chicago. But can LeBron coexist with Bull star Derrick Rose? (US PRESSWIRE)

LeBron James has been rumored to sign with the Chicago Bulls for a few weeks now, which has many Bulls fans thinking championship if those rumors come to fruition.

But not all are enamored with James joining forces with the Bulls’ young star in Derrick Rose.

Stephen Bardo, a former starting guard at the University of Illinois and part of Lou Henson’s Illini squad that reached the Final Four in 1989, is among those skeptics and isn’t sold on a James-Rose partnership with the Bulls.

On the court, Bardo says James will impede the progress of Rose because the two-time NBA MVP dominates the ball on offense and doesn’t quite know how to play well without the ball at this stage of his career. Off the court, James’ larger-than-life persona will ultimately overshadow Rose, a Chicago native, who is more of a reluctant superstar.

“It will kill Derrick Rose if the Bulls bring in LeBron James,” Bardo said on ESPN’s First Take Monday.

Bardo reasons that Rose is not a spot-up shooter, much like the way Cleveland has used Mo Williams the past two seasons. Rose is a classic “pounder,” which means he makes all his plays off the dribble and relies on his ball-handling to break down the defense. Rose and James are essentially the same player, and their one-on-one games simply don’t blend well. Both like to run isolation plays at the top of the key and both are accustomed to being the focal point of the offense.

What Bardo says is very true because James has not proven in his seven seasons in the league that he is comfortable at posting up and waiting for his guards to deliver him the ball. He might do it in the first quarter, but when the game progresses James reverts back to his old habits, which is forcing the action off the 1-4 set.

The 1-4 isolation set is also Rose’s favorite play, and has become really good at it. Bardo’s point is that there are only so many possessions in a basketball game and if both your superstar players have to fight for the same spot in the floor, the spacing becomes congested and the ball movement is stymied. This is equivalent to having two centers on the floor at the same time. Both will run into each other in the low block.

So, in theory, having James and Rose on one team appears like a good marriage. But in reality, there could be chemistry issues on the court.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Chicago Bulls forward-center Joakim Noah is not shy about his disdain for the city of Cleveland, and because of his recent comments he now has a big bullseye on his back.

All throughout Game 2 of the Cavaliers-Bulls first-round series, a game won by the Cavs 112-102, Noah was showered with boos and chants of “No-ah sucks! No-ah sucks!” from 20,000 Cavs fans at Quicken Loans Arena.

When given an opportunity to take back his “Cleveland sucks” comment, Noah added more fuel to the fire.

“You like it? You think Cleveland is cool? I mean I never heard anybody say ‘I’m going to Cleveland on vacation.’ What’s so good about Cleveland?” Noah asked reporters during the postgame news conference after Game 2.

As for the boos, Noah said it’s not the first time nor the last time he’ll hear it from the opposing team’s crowd.

“My whole life I’ve been booed,” said the 25-year-old emotional leader of the Bulls, who heard his share of disparaging noise when he played at the University of Florida.

“In college, I was getting booed a lot,” said the two-time national champion. Today, the-guy-we-love-to-hate label has followed him in the NBA.

“Boston … they don’t like me over there. And they don’t like me over here [Cleveland] either,” Noah noted. “It’s OK. I have my friends. I don’t care.”

Noah, the son of former tennis star Yannick Noah, is not fazed by the negative attention. In fact, he seems to embrace it like a comic book villain.

He played a great game Monday night and was a big reason why the Bulls kept the game close until late in the fourth quarter when LeBron James took over and scored 14 of his game-high 40 points in the fourth. Noah finished the game with 25 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds – seven of them on the offensive end.

“The biggest thing is they got extra possessions,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. “You have to give Noah credit, he had seven offensive rebounds. I don’t think he had any in the last game.”

Because of Noah’s presence, the Bulls had 22 more shot attempts than the Cavs (93-71) and he outscored all three of Cleveland’s big men: Shaquille O’Neal (8), Anderson Varejao (7) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (3).

“Joakim is a free spirit. He has great energy and he’s going to play hard all the time,” Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said about his 6-11 power forward, who anchors the Bulls’ defense and should receive votes for Defensive Player of the Year.

Despite being down 0-2 in the series, Noah believes his Bulls will bounce back as they go back for two games on their home court at the United Center.

“I don’t think we’re discouraged right now. If anything, we’re motivated,” Noah said. “I think we can win, especially on our home court. We have some tough fans too. We’re looking forward to it. Just living in the moment, enjoying the competition, trying to win against one of the best teams in the world.”

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