[OhCanada-Participant]

 Did anybody else predict the Bulls take this series. I feel like Felicio, Lopez and Portis are too physical for Bostons frontcourt, Rondo returning to Boston is a problem, noone on that team can check Jimmy Butler despite Brown being drafted into that role and a few people may have forgot about Wade. The dudes clutch. 

[Evan_MilbergParticipant]

I could see how one might look at Chiacgo’s frontcourt and conclude that their bigs are too much for Boston. Ultimately though, Boston just has too much firepower and the Bulls lack the bench depth to seriously scare them. The Bulls were not a good shooting team this year, and I think that (along with bench woes) will hurt them in close games such as Game 1 right now. 

[OhCanada-Participant]

Bulls win the 1st. Celtics get destroyed on the glass 53 to 36. Robin Lopez with 8 offensive rebounds. Celtics are gonna have to rebound if they want to win some games. 

[negguaryParticipant]

If the Celtics lose this first round series, that would indicate to me that there will be a lot of off season trades, especially if the clips get eliminated too! The Celtics have the assets to acquire a superstar without mortgaging their future, but the price tag for butler may have gone up! LO. Again ainge may not be in any rush and may just be waiting out lebrons prime, and by that time his young prospects will be hitting their stride. But if he wants to truly win now he will make the call because they need more. I still think they can get Paul George with this years bk pick and a combination of crowder, rozier and maybe Bradley or brown. This way they still can keep the bk pick for next year. If the clippers lose they and even if they make it to the second round they need to make a move, its not working, add that to the fact that melo needs a new home and there is a lot of buyers out here, BUT I truly believe that the Celtics losing would be the catalyst to all of this because it would bring the C’s back to reality about where they’re actually at and what they need.

[bdmoteParticipant]

 Your honestly dumb as fuck for judging off  one game, also if you can out rebound a team by 14 and only win by 4 points that says something, and the ref missed that call last night when butler did hit it out not bradley. could have changed the outcome of the game.

[negguaryParticipant]

bro I said the series…why are you getting disrespectful?

[bdmoteParticipant]

 wasnt talking bro, it was some other guy who has no idea what the fuck he is talking about 

 

 

[SubZeroParticipant]

I didn’t pick the Bulls to win but I did tell my friends if there were an upset, it would be this series. Boston is one of the most vulnerable 1 seeds I can remember (thanks to Cleveland) and Chicago has played well against the better teams all season. Jimmy’s gonna make Danny Ainge regret not getting him

[BleedGreen808Participant]

 To be fair it was reported the Bulls wanted 3 of Avery/Jae/Smart/Brown and the 2017 Brooklyn pick.  That would have killed the Celtics wing depth.  

[SubZeroParticipant]

Yeah I definitely think the Bulls were asking for a lot, I just mean I could see Jimmy taking it as motivation. I know I would

[BleedGreen808Participant]

 If anything I think he’d be more motivated by the fact that his own front office was/is even considering trading him.  That front office has been making some quesionable decisions.  Trading Taj and McDermott for Cam Payne was terrible.  

[BleedGreen808Participant]

 It’s honestly amazing that the Celtics could get destroyed on the glass and still only lose by 4.  Off the top of my head that was the worst rebounding "effort" from the Celtics all year.  

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

It is a weird series. 53-win teams generally are not 1-seeds. Added on to this is that Boston was 20-21 against teams who made the playoffs and 33-8 against those who did not. They were 7-11 against teams with .600 or better records. They are an easily likable team, and one that is still on the upswing. It is fair, however, to look at that resume and have doubts. Chicago was 18-21 against teams who made the playoffs and an awful 21-18 aginst those who did not. They actually were 12-9 against teams who had .600 or better records. The Bulls were a .500 team and did it the hard way. They were often out worked by bad teams, In much the same way it is fair to praise Stevens for getting the job done against the dregs of the league, it is an indictment of Hoiberg that so many of the young Bulls players failed to show up or give the necessary effort in those games. Also, much of the season was spent trying to force feed a style that does not fit their personnel. Those are still issues that will need to be addressed regardless of how the series plays out. That said, they got in. They have adapted their style to play a bigger, slower game, which is made for the playoffs. This is a problem for Boston because they are small at almost every position, and definitely are when Horford is off the court. In Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade (Game 1 aside), and Rajon Rondo, they have guys who are poven playoff performers. It doesn’t mean Chicago is going to win. The question isn’t whether they can win a game and make a statement, but can they show up in Game 2? The shorter rotation and no back-to-backs helps keep most of their erratic young players off the floor, but they needed Bobby Portis to step up. Jerian Grant didn’t have a great game, but he was important down the stretch. Do those two, or if not them then Mirotic, Felicio, or Zipser, step in and give that necessary support when coming off a win? While Boston didn’t have the same struggle to get their supporting players to contribute during the regular season, it is not good when they don’t show up at home in Game 1. On the road, their shots don’t fall at the same rate. It is important for them to perform at home. Boston can’t afford to turn playoff games into one of stars v stars. After the first initial burst of Avery Bradley and a little run with Marcus Smart, they didn’t get much from anyone other than Horford and Thomas. They won’t win a series that way.

[HitsterParticipant]

 The Bulls win certainly made the series very interesting and unless Thomas has a hot series then Jimmy Butler has the ability to be best player in this series. Add in the big game experience of D-Wade, Rondo and co and the Bulls have a real chance of a surprise. Although as said above the gap between 1st and 8th seeds is only 12 wins compared to 26 wins out West.

With Thomas having that family tradegy, we don’t know what frame of mind he will be in either as emotion will catch up with him physically and mentally sometime.

The Celtics can easily turn it around but if Chicago can keep things tight they have an experienced team and Fred Hoiberg is going to make the most of his play off opportunity to outwit Brad Stevens. One worrying thing for the Celtics was that Chicago had the 2nd best defence out East so they will not be an easy team to breakdown and as underdogs the pressure is off them.

  

 

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

It is always dangerous to read too much into one game, but I cannot understate how disappointing the Celtics supporting cast was yesterday. Role players, especially young ones, struggling on the road in the playoffs is more or less expected. At home, this isn’t supposed to be the case. Not when they really are built to be a deep team, not a star team. In as much as any way in which a person might react in Isaiah Thomas’ position cannot be surprising, it seems wrong that the outcome would be that they get as much as can be expected from him but next to nothing from 3-11 on their roster. I have to believe that will change in Game 2.

What will stay the same is that Chicago isn’t going to get smaller, and Boston won’t get bigger. This impacts rebounding, obviously, but also how the Bulls attack. Because they aren’t a great shooting team, it is important to keep them out of the paint. The problem is that it is hard to keep keep Jimmy Butler out of the paint when he has smaller guys trying to guard him. I don’t think it gets mentioned enough that he is much more formidable of an offensive player when he has size on the man guarding him. Crowder and Bradley are considerably smaller. Wade didn’t have a great game, but he was a threat in the post against the smaller Boston guards and get into the paint off the dribble. Rondo and Grant were able to get into the paint. Robin Lopez getting off to a good start impacted the help defense because they worried about not having a body up against him. I want to see how Brad Stevens schemes to try to turn the Bulls into a jump shooting team when there are physical limitations as to what they can do. Coming off a game where they scored 64 in the paint or at the line, I don’t imagine the Bulls will try to accomodate them in that effort, but they were a .500 team for a reason.

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Well, Game 2 showed he can’t scheme up size, though I was surprised he didn’t give Tyler Zeller a little more time. When he was in, they had a spell where they came the closest to matching it. 

[BothTeamsPlayedHardParticipant]

Bulls announce Rajon Rondo is out indefinitely with a right thumb fracture

If you subscribe to the belief that some of the reason the Bulls have looked so much better in the playoffs is that they have been able to protect themselves from relying on their young players too much, this could change the series. Then again, "indefinitely" could mean that he is out until he is fitted for a brace that he can function with so it is possible they only need one good home game from Jerian Grant.

 

 

 

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