A History of the TNT Bulls

Game 18: No one touches Jimmy’s elbow

Basketball-Reference box score.

The Bulls really tested the limits with this one. It had the usual weirdly impressive Bulls performances, such as Bobby Portis being one shy of a career high or the team going a perfect 22-for-22 from the free throw line. The Celtics came prepared, however, and were up one going into the last play of the game. Jimmy Butler surveyed the floor, looking for any sort of advantage he could take to get a last second shot off, but Boston was playing stout defense. Butler put up a contested turnaround jumper that missed with 0.9 seconds left, but a referee’s whistle delayed the victory for the Celtics.

Marcus Smart, who had barely grazed Butler’s elbow on that last shot, had been called for a shooting foul, and Butler was going to the line to shoot two. After he sank both, the Bulls found themselves up by one, while Boston had to scramble to come up with a plan to score with only 0.9 seconds. Al Horford threw up an attempt from the baseline, but it was no good. The Bulls stole the victory from Isaiah Thomas’s clutches with the help of a referee who will not tolerate any form of elbow abuse.

Butler finished with 29 points and seven assists, and Portis put up a season high 19 points and eight rebounds. It could definitely be argued that the Bulls didn’t deserve to win this game, but if we start down that line of questioning, who knows where it would stop. The Bulls won, and the streak continued.