The Bulls' Third Quarter: It is what it is ...

... and make no mistake, right now—the first team in the league to clinch a playoff berth, currently holding a two-game lead for the best record in the Eastern Conference and a one-game lead for best record overall ... oh, and 15-2 since the last time I did one of these—"it" is pretty damn good.

But with no big blockbuster addition made during the trading deadline and one of the off-season's supposedly key additions, Rip Hamilton, doing an imitation of Greg Oden imitating Mr. Glass, what exactly is supposed to be making us believe the same fate that met this team last season won't once again meet them in another conference finals elimination? This year, there is no magical Derrick Rose for MVP campaign to pin our hopes to, as though one point guard alone could overcome the Big Three from Miami. This year, you'd basically have to be insane not to award LeBron the MVP.

The Bulls did manage to win one game this past quarter against the Heat—without Rose, incredibly enough. And we did get that awesome shirt moment from that game. But still ... there's just the nagging feeling that what we're seeing this year just does not seem significantly improved enough from last year's product to make this fan believe the championship is quite within grasp yet.

Division-wise, the story seems to be pretty much the same as it has been for what seems like years—OK, ever since LeBron left Cleveland. The Pacers could challenge for as high as a No. 3 spot, but could also slip just as easily into the No. 6. If Amar'e Stoudemire is gone for an extended period of time, then maybe the Bucks could slip past the Knicks for a playoff spot, but I kind of doubt that it will work out that way. The Pistons appear poised to claim the cellar from the Cavs. Congratulations, Ben Gordon.

Just so I'm not guilty of picking solely on Rip Hamilton in this post, allow me to explain that one concern of mine with the Bulls right now as we get ready to get that much closer to the playoffs, is that this team could use a little better ability to really attack the basket. More specifically, I've seen too many games in which Joakim Noah has the ball and a defender is just daring him to shoot it. Noah looks like a deer in headlights and searches for someone else to take the ball. (The Miami game was an exception to this.) And Carlos Boozer seems to prefer his fadeaway over taking it to the rim.

The rebounding has generally been great, but I think a great deal about my skepticism in regards to this team's chances this postseason is simply that this year's Bulls seem as though they are going to be relying a little too much on perimeter shooting (READ: lower-percentage) while a team like Miami will just capitalize with fast breaks. I assume that there's always the possibility that an upset nullifies this entire scenario, but basically I'm still talking primarily about the one series we have all been expecting ever since it became clear these guys were actually going to play: an Eastern Conference Finals rematch that (and here's what may be different—at least from my perspective) could determine who loses to the Thunder. Or beats them. Whatever. The Dallas pick isn't looking so hot.