Breakdown: Miami Heat vs. Chicago Bulls

This is the Eastern Conference Finals matchup you expected at the beginning of the playoffs — No. 1 seed Chicago vs. No. 2 seed Miami — and it has huge superstar credentials among the Heat's Big Three of Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, and Chicago's Derrick Rose.

In that foursome alone, there are three MVPs, a NBA Finals MVP, an NBA championship, three Olympic gold medals, and more than 20 All-Star appearances.

You can see where we're going with this…

— Backcourt: Miami PG Mike Bibby and SG Dwyane Wade vs. Chicago PG Derrick Rose and SG Keith Bogans.

Wade and Rose are the keys here. Both are big-time playmakers and clutch at the end of games. Tough call, but we've seen Wade do it more times than Rose in postseason.

Edge: Heat.

— Frontcourt: Miami SF LeBron James, PF Chris Bosh, C Joel Anthony vs. Chicago SF Luol Deng, PF Carlos Boozer, C Joakim Noah.

Very close call. James is obviously at the head of this class, and Bosh is an All-Star. But Noah made the All-Defensive team and Deng and Boozer are also strong defenders. Still, you hate to bet against James, especially considering the way he's been playing in these playoffs.

Edge: Heat.

— Reserves: Miami PG Mario Chalmers, F James Jones, C Zydrunas Ilgauskas, PF Juwan Howard vs. Chicago SG Kyle Korver, SG Ronnie Brewer, SF Taj Gibson, PG C.J. Watson, C Omar Asik.

This isn't even close. Chicago's bench is deep and versatile; the Heat's is the opposite. It'd be the biggest shock of the playoffs if Miami's bench outplayed Chicago's bench, bigger than Memphis over San Antonio.

Edge: Bulls.

— Coaches: Miami's Erik Spoelstra vs. Chicago's Tim Thibodeau.

Spoelstra, a third-year head coach, had to deal with injuries to Mike Miller and Udonis Haslem. Thibodeau, a first-year head coach and the NBA's Coach of the Year, had to deal with injuries to Boozer and Noah. And he beat the Heat three times, posted the best record in the NBA, and coached what was considered the league's best defense.

Edge: Bulls.

— Intangibles

Chicago has homecourt advantage and was 3-0 against the Heat during the regular season. But we all know, this is a new Heat team, posting a 23-6 record since they last played the Bulls. Free throws are big for Miami -- iaverages 23.4 made free throws per game in the playoffs, which represents one-fourth (25 percent) of its offense.

Expect Noah to spend lots of time on Bosh, a troubling matchup for the Heat forward. It's not known whether Haslem (foot) is healthy enough to play a meaningful role. Rose is among the game's best closers and playmakers and has a huge edge in his matchup.

Both teams play excellent defense so expect low-scoring games, but you can't overlook Wade and James. With all respect to Rose and the Bulls' bench, Wade and James are the biggest difference-makers.

Edge: Heat.

— Heat win if…: They stick to their style of aggressive team defense and allow the Big Three to do all the heavy lifting.

The supporting cast seems to have found its place, and that's occasionally making big plays but just largely just staying in the background while doing their jobs. Chicago's defense packs the paint so the Heat must keep attacking and resist settling for jumpers.

— Bulls win if…: They do their thing, which is defense. Chicago is second in points allowed in these playoffs (87.7 ppg; Miami is third at 88.8 ppg) and seventh in field goal percentage (.427; Miami is ninth at .433).

Chicago's defense love facing loves isolation offense, a Heat specialty, because Chicago overloads to that side and chokes you to death.

— Prediction

Heat in seven. Yes, that means Miami wins Game 7 in Chicago. This series will extend, exhaust and frustrate Miami. The Bulls are good, and they're deep.

But Miami has the Big Three. And at the end of the game, it has James and Wade. That's the difference.