This Bulls team vs. this Boston team
The last game between these two teams deserves its own slide.
The final meeting between the two sides is particularly important and I have reasons.
The 20-point loss in Boston was in mid-March. It was the most recent meeting and the lends to recency. Chicago has played some really good basketball and some horrifyingly awful basketball this season. Their win on opening night over the Celtics was several months and 81 games ago. It’s been nearly two full calendar months since the second win.
If I have to go off of place, I need to be able to reference the most up-to-date information I have about the two teams and how they play when matched up against each other right now.
The other factor is much more important to me than simple recency. The Bulls have only played one game against the Celtics without Taj.
In three games against Boston as a member of Chicago’s team, Gibson averaged 12.7 points, nine rebounds and two assists in 27.1 minutes. Those numbers are good for best rebounding numbers on the entire team, best frontcourt assist numbers on the team, and fourth in points beyond just D-Wade, Jimmy and Niko. He played an important role in those matchups.
We’ll find out more when they actually play the games, but the missing presence of Taj definitely impacts this Chicago squad and they feel it most, naturally, when Mirotic is off. But even with Niko finding his shot, he doesn’t bring the same level of defense or rebounding that the Bulls relied on in Gibson and that puts them at a disadvantage heading into this series.