After years of struggles since the retirement of Michael Jordan, young Chicago-native Derrick Rose has taken the Bulls to a place Chicago fans have been waiting quite some time for.

Yes, the Bulls are going to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Bulls will face the Heat on Sunday night in Chicago for Game One of the best-of-seven series, after defeating the Atlanta Hawks in Game Six of the best-of-seven series, 93-73.

The Bulls were effective at trapping the Hawks in head coach Tom Thibodeau's scheme, forcing three-point shots that the Hawks weren't able to hit.

The Bulls led by 10 points, 45-35, at halftime, due to the play of Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng, and Joakim Noah, who combined to shoot 14-for-20 from the field in the first 24 minutes.

The Bulls led for basically the entire game. Derrick Rose had a strong second half, but the Bulls had already managed a sizable lead before he went on a scoring run.

The Hawks have had big comebacks at Philips Arena this season, but they couldn't pull it off in the elimination game.

Atlanta looked tired, and shot four airballs in the first three quarters.

There were stretches when it seemed a turnaround was coming, but the Bulls' defense took the Hawks' offense out of its rhythm.

Inside the last two minutes of the game, the fans were on their feet to watch Joe Johnson toss a perfect alley-oop to Josh Smith, who slammed it home with his left hand on a two-on-one fast break.

But the Hawks were hampered by a minor first-half injury to point guard Jeff Teague, who has filled in admirably for starter Kirk Hinrich. Teague was taken to the locker room when he hurt his wrist defending a Bulls' fast break. He returned to hit a big shot with 2:21 remaining in the first half.

Teague, who had averaged 17 points per game in the first five games, couldn't find his scoring touch, and neither could players who had been slumping, such as Al Horford.

It was a good run for the Hawks, who were able to push the Bulls to six games -- more than many thought they could do.

As for Chicago, and epic battle looms when they face the Heat on Sunday.

Miami had celebrated like they won the NBA title when they eliminated the Celtics on Wednesday night.

The way Chicago defeated Atlanta, that might be the last of the Heat's celebrations.