"Early in the first quarter in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night, the Bulls countered a double-team against Derrick Rose to near perfection.

Rose skipped a pass on the perimeter to Luol Deng, who fired the ball into the corner to Keith Bogans, who passed into the lane to Joakim Noah, who quickly dished to Carlos Boozer underneath the basket. All five players touched the ball in a span of about five seconds, with Boozer getting it underneath the hoop. The ball was ''poppin.'' The Bulls had the defense moving. Tom Thibodeau couldn't have drawn it up any better. Dr. Naismith couldn't have drawn it up any better.

But instead of going right at Joel Anthony, drawing a foul, scoring and converting a three-point play, Boozer hesitated, tried to avoid Anthony, went underneath the basket and missed a close-in shot under pressure.

For all that went wrong in the Bulls' 83-80 loss to the Heat that eliminated them from the playoffs — the bogus calls, the missed free throws, the critical turnovers, the demise of Rose down the stretch and the will of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade — it was Boozer's inability to play at a level above a supporting cast member that ultimately turned an otherwise uplifting 2010-11 Bulls season into a disappointment.

Boozer finished with five points on 1-of-6 shooting and six rebounds in 26 minutes. He had no assists, steals or blocked shots. For the second game in a row he was called for a flagrant foul that cost the Bulls points in a game that went down to the wire. (And while both calls were questionable, Boozer should know by now how to foul purposely without giving the referees room to call a flagrant. Kyle Korver knows how to do it.)

Boozer's Game 5 flame-out continued his history of petering out in the postseason. Last year he had 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting when the Utah Jazz were eliminated by the Lakers. The year before he scored 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting when the Jazz were eliminated by the Lakers. In 2008 he scored 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting when the Jazz were eliminated by the Lakers. In 2007, he scored nine points on 3-of-10 shooting when the Jazz were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs."