Eastern Conference Executive: Nets don't want to face Bulls

With the playoffs approaching quickly, the Nets will look to grab the fourth seed and hopefully get at least one round with home court advantage. As of now, it looks as if the Nets will either take on the Toronto Raptors or Chicago Bulls. While some fans may want revenge for last year's series loss, the Nets may be thinking otherwise.

Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops reported that an Eastern Conference executive said that the Nets "don’t want to see Chicago" come playoff time.

According to the scout, the Nets would rather play the Raptors due to the Bulls massive frontcourt, at least relative to the Brooklyn Nets small-ball lineup approach.

“It’s the three-man frontcourt combination because the Bulls are one of the few teams that don’t play with a stretch forward or a smaller guy,” the scout told SheridanHoops. “Whereas, the Nets have had success going to a smaller lineup. When you have Boozer posting up on Pierce, it’s going to be a long night for Pierce. It’s hard to go small against them because they’ll punish you. Physically, the Bulls will take a massive toll on them compared to any other team.”

The Nets have been quite successful against other small teams. In fact, they are 12-0 against the Miami Heat, Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz, all of whom also go with smaller lineups.

In the regular season, the Nets and Bulls have faced off three times, losing the first two by an average of 16.5 points, and both were blowouts. However they won the final match-up by 16 points.

If the Nets do play the Bulls, their primary concern will be slowing down Joakim Noah, who has been putting up MVP-type numbers. If they can do that, they'll have a good chance to win, which is what happened in their latest match-up this season.

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