2017 NBA Playoffs: Chicago Bulls at Boston Celtics – 3 Takeaways

Big Shot Bobby Portis

If there’s one positive takeaway from the Bulls’ bummer of a trade deadline deal, which offloaded Taj Gibson, Doug McDermott and a second-round draft pick for three players who didn’t log one second of court time between them, it’s that second-year power forward Bobby Portis was allowed to develop the confidence to do what he did in Game 1.

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With Gibson gone, Portis and Nikola Mirotic both had to play (outside of a few random benchings). It seemed like neither of them wanted the starting position at first with Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg first bestowing the title of starting power forward on Portis in the wake of the news, then subbing in Mirotic when Portis underwhelmed.

The 6-foot-10, 230-pound former Razorback, who is still just 22, had a nice offensive final quarter of the season with expanded minutes, including five double-doubles. His defense was still a mess, as he frequently found himself out of position on that end of the floor.

Portis had himself a night on Sunday night, though. In 29 minutes on the floor, BP scored 19 points, pulled down nine rebounds, dished out three assists and had two huge blocks for good measure. He made three of his four attempts from 3-point range and was 8-of-10 from the field!

Portis stepped up at just the right time, as Nikola Mirotic had a miserable shooting night. The man they call “Threekola” had just four points (he shot 1-of-9 from the field, and 0-of-5 from deep) and one rebound in 18 unproductive minutes.

When his shot isn’t falling, Mirotic needs to play aggressor, do his pump-fake thing and scramble inside to draw contact for the and-one play. He effectively did that once all night. Though Portis more than came through for Niko, Mirotic needs to step it up if the Bulls are to actually have a crack at dethroning Boston.

Portis (with those nine boards) and Robin Lopez (with 11) were a big part of the Bulls’ overwhelming rebounding advantage over Boston. Chicago finished the game with a 53-36 rebounding edge, including a crucial 20-12 offensive rebounding advantage that led to many much-needed second chance scoring opportunities.

In the meantime, all Gar Forman/John Paxson haters should take solace in the fact that beloved Boston general manager Danny Ainge drafted point guard Terry Rozier in 2015, ahead of both Portis and Bulls off-guard Jerian Grant.

Rozier was a DNP-CD for the losing team last night and Boston head coach Brad Stevens played 11 guys, which is an atypically large rotation for a playoff game, but the calculated and necessary move of a desperate man.

Portis had the greatest game of his career (when weighed for importance, of course). Grant defended competently, chipped in a trey, and added four assists, two rebounds, and one steal to the proceedings, in addition to six points (on an ugly 2-of-9 shooting from the field, but so what?).

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