It's over.

The Champs have fallen.

The Miami Heat's season is over.

Last year's NBA Champs have been swept by the Chicago Bulls. The team that gave Miami the most trouble in the playoffs last year, and the team that blew the doors off the Heat in the first game of the season, is the same team that dominated the Heat from the beginning of Game 1 until the last second of Game 4. 

Somehow I knew I would be writing this blog two weeks ago when the Bulls lost to the Nets and became the Heat's first round opponent. With a dinged up D-Wade, old Shaq and no back-up point guard, I knew the Heat had no chance. 

Miami's downfall would be turnovers, free throw shooting and the inability to find the right starting lineup to match up with the steady Bulls. 

Turnovers: You can thank Wade and Shaq. 37 in four games between the two of them.

Free throws: Once again, Wade and Shaq, you can throw Zo into the mix too. I'm not going to figure it out for all the games, but in Game 3 the Heat were 16-35, and in Game 4, Shaq was 0-7.

Starting lineup: Riley. Four games, four different lineups.  

The Bulls are a solid team. They out husseled Miami, and killed them on the boards. They played great defense, and made shots when they needed to.

Still, Miami should have won this series just like they did last year. The problem for the Heat this year was they relied on D-Wade and Shaq too much.  Jwil, Haslem and Posey/Kapono/Jones were completely removed the offense. When they did get shot opportunities, they were bailing out Wade or Shaq with the shot clock winding down. Riley rarely ran plays for Haslem, and ran even less for Jwil. Forcing the ball to Shaq and having Wade handle the ball instead of Jwil or even Payton, lead to all of those turnovers. Riley should have limited Wade's ball handling, especially if he's still hurt. Instead, he increased it. Not smart.

The free throw shooting was a joke for Miami. Shaq says he makes them when they count. Please. He never makes them, and last time I checked, THEY ALL COUNT! Wade got into the act in Game 3 by shooting only 40% from the line. There are no excuses for a team to be this bad from the line, especially from the two "superstars" on the team.  

Riley takes a hit for the way he coached the Heat into this playoff disaster. He had Miami playing tight from the beginning of Game 1. The Heat had a lot of pressure on them coming into the series, and I doubt Riley did anything to eliviate any of that pressure. He probably added to it. Switching the lineup every game didn't help. Guys don't know their roll when the starting lineup represents a carousel, players start pressing and can't make a shot. 

I really don't know yet how I feel about this season. It's still too early. Obviously, I'm disappointed. Injuries played a big part in this year's quick ending, but I'm not sure how much different things would have turned out. I do think Miami's season does prove one thing, you can't sleepwalk through the regular season, and then just turn it on in the playoffs. That definitely hurt them in the end.

The Miami Heat getting knocked out in the first round this year, once again makes me realize just how difficult repeating is in professional sports. It takes such a special team to win a championship, doing it two or more years in a row is close to impossible.