It’s a Tuesday and the Chicago Bulls have 1-0 lead in their playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Game 2 is on Tuesday night and will be a pivotal game for both teams, setting the tone for the rest of the series.
Now, here’s a cool thing – the Bulls are 1-0 in the playoffs.
I know I just said that into the lede, but this series was always going to be a wild card and all Chicago basketball fans should really be soaking in the moment. Why? Because there were no playoff games for the Bulls last year and we have no idea if that was the last playoff win they’ll get in a long, long time or if it was just the first of many more upsets.
Make no mistake, Chicago winning this series would be a major upset. It’s been a little while, years and years, since a No. 1 seed was ousted by the No. 8.
Tuesday night’s game will set up much like Game 1. The Bulls are going to rely heavily on the back, shoulders, heart, legs, scoring, defense, and generally likability of Jimmy Butler. They might get another good performance out of Bobby Portis, but he’s likely to remain the backup to Nikola Mirotic.
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Now, Mirotic got absolutely cooked in Game 1, but his defensive struggles aren’t normally going to hurt his playing time because Portis is just as bad in most situations, or worse. That wasn’t the case on Sunday in Game 1, but I wouldn’t bet my bottom dollar that we see the same Portis again. It’s just much too small of a sample size from the young man.
Mirotic does need to get his shot going, that’s what will get him benched. Offense is what he’s on the court to provide, any defensive contribution is needed, but also a bonus.
Also, Dwyane Wade needs to put in some actual effort or he needs to go to bench. I already touched on how Fred Hoiberg royally messed up his opportunity to put Wade on the bench, but it really needs to happen.
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On the other end of things, Isaiah Thomas did really well. Jerian Grant and Rajon Rondo are going to have something between a really hard time and no chance of stopping him if he’s emotionally up to playoff basketball. It would be completely understandable if he’s just not there right now, but even with him clearly having a difficult time getting into Game 1, he still did a lot of good things.
Al Horford has also proved himself to be a problem, but you’ll live with it considering how the rest of the Celtics roster played – just poorly enough for Chicago to steal Game 1.
Oh, and we didn’t even mention the rebound battle. If there ever was a glaring weakness for Boston, that would have to be it. Robin Lopez just crushed them on the offensive glass and I might go as far as to say that is the only reason the Bulls got the win.
Matchup: Chicago Bulls (1-0) vs. Boston Celtics (0-1)
When: 7 p.m. CST
Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA
Stream: fuboTV
TV: CSN-Chicago, TNT
Radio: WLUP-FM 97