- Hey, great game from Ray Allen absolutely phenomenal play from one of the league’s best. His catch and shoot was simply lightning.
- Great job on the offensive glass by Perkins. It was dirty, it was brutal, it was playoff glasswork. Great job. Had some nice drop hooks, too.
- Excellent job on closing off Rose. They brought the LeBron man-help special (second level double inside the arc on the player’s strong hand side, third defender low, squared to Rose). Perkins said Rose wouldn’t have that kind of game again, and he was right.
- And you know what I got from this game?
- The Celtics are dead.
- Dead, I tell you. Maybe not this round, but at some point in these playoffs, they are going to find themselves against a team with more than one offensive set.
- Look, this is not a great team they’re playing. They’re certainly playing great. But they’re not a great team. They’re short their best wing player. They have a terrible coach. Their best pure scorer lacks size. Their bigs don’t have big frames. And they have no experience.
- And yet look at this game. Rose and Hinrich had five fouls in the first half. The Celtics were allowed to hack as much as they wanted in the lane. I’m not saying that’s wrong. They’re at home in a playoff series and they’re the champs. They’re supposed to get the calls. That’s how it works. Glen Davis had 26 points on mostly 15 footers. Allen had a huge game. And they still needed a drifting three with 2 seconds left to win this game at home.
- Anybody out there still doubt me that Pierce is injured? Guys got no lift.
- Rondo is a killer on the break. He’s so good at recognizing weakness in transition. If the Bulls weren’t completely back off misses, Rondo would hit ludicrous speed and get at the rack.
- The only problem I have with Rondo is every freaking game he has an injury that he “toughs”through. The first four times he did it I was worried about it. When he went down tonight I was like “He’ll be back. He’s never actually hurt.” Then I saw the replay and thought he might actually be seriously hurt. Nope. Taped the ankle and came back. I know he got hurt, I just never see him hurt enough to leave the game.
- Let me give you a complete rundown of what Vinny Del Negro thinks an offensive playbook is.
- Play #1: Derrick Rose sets up at the key. Brad Miller comes out for a pick. The defense ignores Miller and focuses on Rose. Rose swings it back to Brad Miller. Brad Miller turns the ball over.
- That concludes our complete rundown of what Vinny Del Negro considers an offensive playbook.
- Tyrus Thomas erases the dreams of men. Thomas’ inability to get rebounds hurt the Bulls, but he also almost single-handedly stopped three possessions at the end of both halves.
- Joakim Noah did the exact right thing against Perkins. Don’t be intimidated. Talk at ém.
- Watching the Celtics yapping at this seven seed. Kind of sad, no?
- Look, KG is a first ballot Hall of Famer and a tremendous player. But does he not run his mouth the most when he’s either on the bench or walking away? At least he hung out on the bench and gave the bigs some direction. And you could see it hleped.
- I fully expected the Celtics to blow this team out by 20. So to watch them constantly be baffled by them, to need players who aren’t that good to play well above their potential, to be constantly stretched from tip-off to buzzer, there’s not that much positive to take from this. They barely won a game they were supposed to win.
- Had the Bulls won, I was prepared to provide a full apology to Ben Gordon. As it stands, the theory that a team with Ben Gordon as its superstar cannot succeed holds true. But that’s just me being stubborn. If Gordon had gotten the ball with time remaining, the Bulls would have won. That’s how good he was tonight. I was rooting. For Ben Gordon. That’s how good he was tonight. A NOVA goes for naught.
- And no, Ray Allen did not go Nova. You do not reach NOVA status if you need four screens to get the shot off.
- But you do get to be called Jesus, so that ain’t bad.
Rate this post!Share:
Vinny needs a little more faith in his team. Sure, they are an inexperienced team in the playoffs, but sometimes you just gotta trust your guys a bit more. But no, instead you blow all your timeouts before the last minute of the game when you KNEW it was going to be a close game.
[...] Thanks to Matt for sharing this, despite his claims that the Celtics are dead. [...]
I’d love the Bulls to win this series, but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t see them doing it. Too much inexperience vs. tons of experience. If it happened it would be incredible. If Chicago can pull out the next 2 home wins, and go up 3-1, then maybe…
[...] sometimes leaving their man (the screener) completely and chasing Rose around the court. And as Hardwood Paroxysm’s Matt Moore notes, they had a third defender lurking underneath, [...]
So is your point about Rondo that he’s not “really” hurt and shouldn’t leave the game in the first place? Because I have the opposite concern, and I think he should work on taking contact and falling in a way that doesn’t constantly put his body at risk (as someone — Simmons, maybe — said the other day that Wade has done).
One thing I saw that hasn’t been noted is how Ben Gordon wasn’t playing for the last 13seconds!
After the Boston timeout, he didn’t get on the floor soon enough, someone else was there, and the refs said he couldn’t just switch on. Considering that it was Gordon who was hounding Allen all night long, and that was without a doubt his easiest trey of the night …
Spot on. Bulls would have won this game if they had a chance to respond in the final play. They just ran out of time. BG > Ray.
[...] carried off the court after the game which actually made me laugh out loud because I’d read this over at Hardwood Paroxysm just hours earlier: The only problem I have with Rondo is every freaking game he has an injury that [...]
[...] Mail] Bruins winWill go for the sweep in Montreal tomorrow [Yahoo Sports] Celtics winWe agree with Hardwood Paroxysm; the fact that they needed a last-second three to beat these guys at home does not bode well. [...]