Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

I wouldn’t ask for another series.

On one hand there are the Chicago “I-Try-So-Hard” Bulls — on the other, the Miami “Can’t-Stop-LeBron” Heat.

The Streak-killers versus the win-streakers.

The grind and the grit versus the glitz and the glam.  It’s perfect.

Individually, the matchups are

• Joakim “Butt-Ugly-But-Hustles-His-Butt-Off” Noah versus Chris “NBA-Tattoo-MVP” Andersen.

• Jimmy “How-Can-You-Not-Love-His-Story” Butler versus LeBron “BESTPLAYERALIVEEEE” James

• Marco “Didn’t-Even-Know-This-Guy-Existed-Before-This-Year” Belinelli versus Dwayne “WOW” Wade.

Add in some significant doses of Nate “Probably-The-Most-Irrationally-Confident-Human-Ever-After” Robinson, the most entertaining, lovable, hateable, NBA player in recent memory, and you have one of the more polarizing Eastern Conference Semifinal series in the past couple of years.

My Three Bold Predictions:

1. Mike Miller shoots a gazillion percent from three — Not really, but Mike Miller is going to go off on the Bulls.  They’re going to concentrate so much on LeBron and Wade, and with many of the Bulls players not 100% there is going to be a lot of drive-and-kick action.  This means lots of open threes for Mike Miller.
2. Carlos Boozer does not score in double-figures in a single game — I’m 10000000% convinced that Carlos Boozer should not be making $13.5 million this year.  It simply shouldn’t happen.  There’s gotta be something in the Geneva Convention that states that Carlos Boozer should not make more than $10 million a year.  He’s not that good, and the only reason people thinks he’s good is that he plays well against bad teams.  The Heat are not a bad team.
3. The Heat sweep – The Bulls are a shell of a team.  Joakim Noah has a plantar fasciitis problem.  Luol Deng just got a freakin’ spinal tap because they thought he had viral meningitis.  Kirk Hinrich just missed three straight games of a series (including a Game 7) due to a bruised left knee. And even if Hinrich plays, his injury might even make him a detriment to the team.  The Bulls are battered and bruised and are about to be K.O’d.

Game 1 was tight at first…until the Heat, as they have done so often this season, took control in the second half.

Part of the reason why Game 1 was a lot closer (at least in the first half) than what many expected was the offensive output of Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings.  Brandon Jennings had 18 of the Bucks’ 45 points at halftime and the Ellis-Jennings duo combined for 48 of the Bucks’ 86 points.

• Key #1: Contain Ellis and Jennings – The Monta Ellis and the Brandon Jennings combo is the only hope that the Bucks have of outscoring the Heat.  Luc Mbah a Moute has as much chance of scoring in double figures as Sam Cassell has of winning a beauty pageant.  LARRY SANDERS! can rebound, block, and tip-dunk.  If he’s more than five feet from the basket, he’s an offensive liability.  And while Ersan Ilyasova is a decent three point shooter, he only scored two points last game.  So the spotlight will be on Mario Chalmers and whether or not he can stop BJ3 in Game 2 after letting BJ3 get by him on multiple occasions in Game 1.

• Key #2: Can the Birdman keep on flying? – LeBron flirted with a triple-double last game.  Ray Allen scored 20 points.  But the most valuable Heat player had to be the Birdman.  His hustle and unselfish play along with his high-flying highlights energizes this Heat team.  Birdman’s biggest contribution has been on the glass In Game 1 he had seven rebounds in only 16 minutes of play — no Bucks player had more than six. It’s no coincidence that in the Birdman’s best game (arguably) of the season, the Heat out-rebounded the Bucks 46-31 after being dead last in the NBA in rebounds per game.

• Key #3: Can the Heat cut down on their turnovers? – As LeBron said at the end of Game 1 (and I’m paraphrasing), “the Bucks are long and can force a lot of turnovers, and that is something we have to improve upon in Game 2″. And King James was absolutely right —  the Heat had 19 turnovers while the Bucks had only 12.  The Heat’s biggest offenders?  Mario Chalmers and Chris Bosh who were responsible for four turnovers a piece.  I attribute these turnovers to a little bit of rustiness (most of the first unit haven’t played significant minutes since The Streak), so after a full game of action and a couple days of practice, I expect that the number of Heat turnovers to go down.

What do you think are the keys to the game?  Tweet me your thoughts @jaebradley!