During the Miami Heat‘s “Big Three” era of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, the team went on to make four straight finals appearances. In their first two trips together, the Chicago Bulls were one of their victims as they eliminated them in back-to-back seasons, despite being led by a peak-form Derrick Rose.

Now with the Bulls, and playing alongside Jimmy Butler, Wade feels they are doing the same thing to Isaiah Thomas, especially with them facing the Boston Celtics in the first round of this year's playoffs. They led their team to a Game 1 upset against the top-seeded team in the Eastern Conference, and likened the feeling of beating Thomas to how he and James did the same to Rose in the past.

The Bulls may have had an up-and-down regular season, but they were able to get their act together when it mattered the most, and locked up the last playoff berth in their conference.

With Wade feeling motivated to prove he can still play at a high level and with Butler helping him to recall the feeling of winning against one of the best players in the league, the Bulls will be a very difficult team to beat and could even pull off an upset against the favorites in the East.