2017 NBA Playoffs, Game 3 Outlook: Chicago Bulls vs. Boston Celtics

The Chicago Bulls defend their home court against the Boston Celtics and try to continue to assert their dominance over an overachieving Boston Celtics bunch. Can the Bulls thrash the Celtics convincingly into a 3-0 series lead?

Fred Hoiberg‘s Chicago Bulls are poised to make a historic upset as they continue trying to dominating the Boston Celtics after shutting down Brad Stevens’ unpredictable and frenetic offense in Games 1 and 2 of their first-round series.

The key for the Bulls is to slow down the Celtics’ hand-off 3-pointers to Avery Bradley and Jae Crowder while having Jerian Grant take on Isaiah Thomas off the bench to spell Jimmy Butler from getting too fatigued on defense.

Unknown to most Bulls fans, Grant has had Thomas’ number even when he was still a New York Knick. Grant could crowd Thomas and pick his pocket and we saw a glimpse of that in Game 1.  Jimmy Butler has been successful at shutting down Isaiah Thomas so far, but the Bulls don’t want Jimmy overextending himself and tiring out just when they need him at the end of games.

The Bulls have to match the Celtics basket for basket and prove that the Hoiball passing offense is more consistent than Brad Steven’s mismatch-based offense.

Let’s look at how the two teams will go at each other in Game 3.