While Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James received the majority of the media attention before the series started, the story of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals were the men up-front.

Chicago’s big men dominated the offensive glass, grabbing 19 offensive rebounds, which led to 31 second-chance points for the Bulls. Miami’s stingy halfcourt defense normally leads to fastbreak points, but it’s impossible to get into transition when you can’t secure a defensive rebound. Chicago’s offensive rebounding yielded them open jumpers against a scrambling Heat defense and allowed them to keep the game in the half-court.

Miami’s offense is built around Wade and LeBron, two of the most athletic perimeter players in the league. They can attack the basket and score over the vast majority of NBA frontcourts; 39% and 31% of their shots in the regular season, respectively, were in the paint.

But the Bulls long and athletic big men were able to control the paint, preventing Miami’s stars from getting in a comfort zone. Chicago has three of the regular season leaders in block percentage: the 6'11" 232 Joakim Noah at 3.5%, the 7'0" 255 Omer Asik at 4.3% and the 6’9" 225 Taj Gibson (with a 7’4 wingspan) at 4.7%.

Whenever Wade and LeBron penetrated, Chicago’s big men routinely helped off Miami’s front-court players, allowing the Bulls to stay on the Heat’s three-point shooters. Miami averaged 18 3-point attempts a game in the Boston series; they had only eight on Sunday.

Miami's centers gave them the worst of both worlds -- they couldn’t control Chicago’s big men on the glass and they couldn’t make the Bulls pay for not guarding them.

Going forward, the key adjustment for Miami is at the center position. If Joel Anthony and Jamaal Magloire can’t help them defensively, then the Heat need to get some offense at that position.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas is a deadly mid-range jump shooter, and he would force Chicago’s big men to stay on him out to 20 feet, opening up driving lanes for Wade and LeBron. A healthy Udonis Haslem would be an even bigger addition, as Haslem is Miami’s only big man who can both hit an outside jumper and protect the defensive glass.

Realistically, no matter who the Heat play at center, they’re going to be dominated athletically by Chicago’s big men. That’s why I think the Bulls are going to win the series.

For Miami to beat the odds, Wade and LeBron have to dominate. But because Chicago was able to pack the paint, they had no room to operate, and the duo combined to shoot 12-32 from the floor and turn the ball over 8 times.

When Wade, LeBron and Bosh joined forces last summer, they thumbed their noses at the traditional methods of building a team and winning in the post-season. While many criticized them for taking the “easy way out”, in reality, by choosing to play without a center, they were taking on over 40 years of NBA history.

While the NBA has been obsessed with finding the “next Jordan” since his retirement, the last decade has shown that Jordan was more aberration than trend. From 1999-2008, Shaq, Tim Duncan and KG won every single championship except one, when the Detroit Pistons, with four-time Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace at center, shocked Shaq’s Lakers.

Kobe may be LA’s best player, but they wouldn’t have won the last two championships without Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum and Lamar Odom dominating inside. It’s no coincidence that the team that knocked them off -- the Mavericks -- was the first team they had faced since the ‘08 Finals with the size to match up with them.

And if Miami can’t match up with the Bulls big men on the glass, they should try to beat them on the other end of the court: play LeBron and Bosh on the interior and space the floor with Wade and two of their jump-shooters.

If they’re going to go down, they should go down swinging.