ECQF: P1 | (1) Boston Celtics vs Chicago Bulls (8) | CHI 2-0

[Ballerhogger]

Rondo pulling off this upset , may steal the show for ECF playoffs.

[Rapaz]

Hondo >>>> Rondo

[I_Like_Dirt]

Wow, I am totally willing to admit how wrong I was about the Bulls. I thought for sure Celtics in 5 or 6. The series isn't over but even if the Celtics string off four straight wins, I just didn't expect this type of series. The Bulls strengths are exactly the Celtics weaknesses and they have the most tested playoff players and it shows.

Lopez is absolutely obliterating everyone on the team. Rondo is the Rondo I remember in Boston. Bad news for us. I'm still holding on to some hope that we turn it around once are backs are truly against the wall but all the credit goes to Chicago so far.

I think it's a bit more than just a bad matchup, honestly. I actually feel the Raptors struggle with similar issues, although they aren't quite as pronounced as they are with the Celtics. If you rely on players who need to be able to draw FTs for your offense to function, your offense is going to struggle in the playoffs more often than not. IT really isn't so different from the likes of Derozan and Lowry in that respect, probably moreso, and it's doubly a problem, because defensively he's worse than those guys. This isn't an unusual characteristic, either - it's more common than you might think amongst a lot of stars, but I think it tends to get forgotten because guys like Lebron just simply dominate regardless.

More to it, though, the lack of back-to-backs in the playoffs, and often more than a single day's rest, is a major advantage to teams with less depth and more top end talent. If your team is able to simply outlast opponents by having well-coached depth, not suffering on back to backs like opposing teams while being better able to prey on tired teams during the season, you're likely going to see a team that isn't quite as good as its regular season record would suggest.

This doesn't mean the Celtics are a bad team, because they're not. They just don't really have a lot of ingredients that teams usually need for playoff success in the NBA. To be honest, no eastern conference team really does other than Cleveland, but having that one size/skill superstar talent along with some more grindy vets tends to help quite a bit more come playoff time than it does in the regular season. The Celtics are having similar issues with the Bulls as the Raptors had last season with the Pacers, only I think the Bulls are actually weaker overall than the Raptors were last season, despite being better coached, imo.

For the Celtics to make a series of this, they really need IT to start doing his Steph Curry impersonation from when he was so blistering hot midseason and rain 3s from all over. He isn't going to get the same FT calls he got in the regular season in part because playoffs, but moreso because defenses are more rested and gameplan for him a bit better because it makes more sense to do it now than midseason. And he really isn't strong enough to consistently finish through the kind of contact he's going to encounter.

[Mister Ze]

Chicago vs Washington will be an epic series to say the least. Both teams don't really have depth. Gonna come down to Butler vs Wall/Beal

[bulliedog8]

Why are people saying Stevens overachieved with this roster? They were expected to win around 52 games this year. Nearly exactly what he did.

And those saying the Celtics are closer to a title than the bulls. I wonder why they think that? Their current roster shows me nothing to say they will be better in the next 3-4 years. They are banking on the top picks being superstars. We gonna act like you can't find stars in the teens and 20s too as long as you have a good scouting department? Plus the bulls could add a free agent or 2 and go from 41 wins to 54+ in one offseason just like the rockets with harden. I wouldn't count on it but people also didn't think the rockets were any better than a 41 win team again this year

Because they won 50 games with one shot creator on the whole roster that is 5'8 with no other players that can get their own shots.

They were expected to win 52+ this year. Stevens did what was expected

[NZB2323]

Why are people saying Stevens overachieved with this roster? They were expected to win around 52 games this year. Nearly exactly what he did.

And those saying the Celtics are closer to a title than the bulls. I wonder why they think that? Their current roster shows me nothing to say they will be better in the next 3-4 years. They are banking on the top picks being superstars. We gonna act like you can't find stars in the teens and 20s too as long as you have a good scouting department? Plus the bulls could add a free agent or 2 and go from 41 wins to 54+ in one offseason just like the rockets with harden. I wouldn't count on it but people also didn't think the rockets were any better than a 41 win team again this year

Because they won 50 games with one shot creator on the whole roster that is 5'8 with no other players that can get their own shots.

They were expected to win 52+ this year. Stevens did what was expected

They surpassed their over/under in Vegas and part of the reason that line was high is because they overachieved last year and Stevens did a great job of coaching the team last year.

[Ben-N1ce]

Why are people saying Stevens overachieved with this roster? They were expected to win around 52 games this year. Nearly exactly what he did.

And those saying the Celtics are closer to a title than the bulls. I wonder why they think that? Their current roster shows me nothing to say they will be better in the next 3-4 years. They are banking on the top picks being superstars. We gonna act like you can't find stars in the teens and 20s too as long as you have a good scouting department? Plus the bulls could add a free agent or 2 and go from 41 wins to 54+ in one offseason just like the rockets with harden. I wouldn't count on it but people also didn't think the rockets were any better than a 41 win team again this year

Because they won 50 games with one shot creator on the whole roster that is 5'8 with no other players that can get their own shots.

They were expected to win 52+ this year. Stevens did what was expected

Do you feel most coaches would get 50 wins with the Celtics roster? If not then Stevens is overachieving with it..

[bulliedog8]

Because they won 50 games with one shot creator on the whole roster that is 5'8 with no other players that can get their own shots.

They were expected to win 52+ this year. Stevens did what was expected

Do you feel most coaches would get 50 wins with the Celtics roster? If not then Stevens is overachieving with it..

I personally had the Celtics as a 56 win team so he underachieved in my opinion. But again based on Vegas. He did what was expected. Pretty sure the over under was at 52.5 wins.

[Ben-N1ce]

They were expected to win 52+ this year. Stevens did what was expected

Do you feel most coaches would get 50 wins with the Celtics roster? If not then Stevens is overachieving with it..

I personally had the Celtics as a 56 win team so he underachieved in my opinion. But again based on Vegas. He did what was expected. Pretty sure the over under was at 52.5 wins.

So you think most coaches could get 56 wins out of the Celtics? I guess we totally disagree..

[phanman]

That Lopez looks like the second coming of Karl Malone shows you how weak the Celtics are inside. Lopez is good, but he's not all-star level good, which is how he seemed yesterday.

Dude played fantastic yesterday and his ability to hit the outside jumper was surprising to a casual fan of the Bulls. I never knew he possessed that mid range jumper at all but he has hit 7/8 of his attempts is currently shooting 70% overall thus far in two games. Diving into his season long shooting numbers and WOW.
He shoots:
56% at the rim
48% from 3 - <10ft
46% from 10 - <16ft
45% from 16 - <3pt

That's what you call efficient man.

On a side note:
The legend of playoff Rondo lives on Sucks that he didn't get his triple double last night, but man some of his passes were on some straight Houdini **** (that full court one to Butler after grabbing the rebound and falling to make it ) Wade continuing his playoff 3pt shooting is insane too. Chicago has always been that team nobody wanted to face in the playoffs as a 7/8th seed and there is a reason why Cleveland threw the last few games for the #1 seed to avoid them and play the Pacers.

[Lauri_Legend]

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[LoveTheNBA23]

Read on Twitter

Only 3 teams in NBA history have come back from a 2-0 deficit when losing the first two games at home in a 7 game series.

[HearshotKDS]

"so far" is 2 guys, and insane sample size.... and you'd think over 7 games percentages would normalize a bit and robin lopez wouldnt shoot jumpers better then avery bradley all series.

dont get me wrong, bulls can still win, but id be suprised if the celtics dont tie this up or at the very least force a game 6 or 7.

I picked Bulls in 6 but the increased effort of Rondo and Wade in the playoffs is definitely overlooked. This is also a completely different style of team they saw during the regular season.

i dont know... wade was good last year in the playoffs but eventually came back to earth a bit... i dont see him shooting 75% from three every game. i think rondo will continue to bring the effort, but stevens may adjust and put bradley or someone bigger on him for long stretches.

Still, i think even if those 3 play well, i think boston still wins if they get typical games from bradley/Crowder/IT.

i see this being 2-2 headed back to boston

The problem with the bold is: Rondo, Wade, Butler - IT has to guard 1 of those 3 for almost the entire time he's on the floor. Will be very difficult to hide IT on defense in this matchup, and if you move him to one of the "scrubs" (my words not yours) like Zipser, then you give up 16 points on 80% TS from a guy who only averaged 5.5 ppg during the season.

Boston has been slow on defensive rotations, that has to improve to prevent dribble penetration, and they have to hope that Mirotic + random hero of the day from the Bulls bench don't shoot lights out and burn them.

The Bulls will almost certainly cool off from range, but not sure what BOS does about the Bulls bigs ragdoll-ing their team on the glass. I think this series goes back to Boston 3-1 Chicago, but wouldn't be surprised if the brooms come out.

[Throwback24]

Read on Twitter

Only 3 teams in NBA history have come back from a 2-0 deficit when losing the first two games at home in a 7 game series.

The Celtics could be the fourth team in historic fashion. Do you like their odds?

[Ice Man]

The Celtics could be the fourth team in historic fashion. Do you like their odds?

Their odds are a lot better than if they were the #8 seed down 0-2. But still not very good.

[Hero]

Don't like their odds. It's not like they lost in a close one. They got destroyed at home. Showed no heart.

I suppose this is a chance for the golden boy Brad Stevens to work some magic.

[tundraknight]

This

It wouldn't shock me if we lost by 40 tonight lol

That's very unlikely..

The playoffs are a whole different animal.

The person you quoted mentioned about "looking like a title contender, then losing to the Nets in the same week" happens to a lot of teams.

It's very common for teams to be inconsistent in the regular season. Look at the Cavs for example, they destroyed the Celtics on the road, and on the second night of a back to back. Then lose to the Hawks bench players.

This Bulls team has "Dark Horse" written all over it imo.

But anyways, I predict Wade to have much more of an impact tonight. He didn't play well at all and yet the Bulls still won Game 1.

The Bulls beat good teams and lose to bad teams more than any team in the NBA:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-the-bulls-beat-the-best-teams-and-then-lose-to-the-worst-ones/amp/

This team is highly unpredictable, highly unreliable, and super frustrating to be a fan of. I'm just glad that we weren't the 9th seed again, and it looks like we could win a playoff series...or we could lose the next 4 games.

Told you.. I should become a prophet.

Also about your statistics about the Bulls losing to bad teams and beating good teams in the regular season, perhaps that has to do with the Bulls actually being motivated to play against good teams. Against bad teams they just seem to care as much.

Like I said, the Bulls are a dark horse team. Wade has said Time and time again that he lives for these moments (Playoffs).

The Bulls are probably the second best coasting team behind the Cavaliers.

[Ctownbulls]

Chicago vs Washington will be an epic series to say the least. Both teams don't really have depth. Gonna come down to Butler vs Wall/Beal

Maybe I am too focused on regular season Chicago but I would imagine Washington would handle the Bulls fairly easily, if the Bulls end up beating Boston.

[SMTBSI]

Read on Twitter

I wonder how many things have happened to me so far today that had less than a 6.2% chance of happening?

[RedBulls23]

So much knee jerk in here it is crazy.... Celtics are down but this whole "stevens is overated" "celtics worst 1 seed of all time" stuff is just comical.

Lets see if rondo keeps playing like an MVP. lets see if wade and RoLo keep shooting lights out. Lets see if bradley and Thomas keep throwing up clankers.

if boston blows out the bulls in game 3 and all of a sudden its 2-1 people will change their tune and start pointing to those things as a reason.

not saying celtics come all the way back, but right now we are looking at a small sample with alot of things going against the numbers

Wade shot the ball well in game 2, but struggled in game 1. Also, IT (IT had a great 1st game) and Bradley (he did from 3 at least) shot the ball well in game 1.

Bulls are outplaying the Celtics, plain and simple. We will see what happens for the rest of the series, but I think people should stop looking or excuses for why the Bulls have dominated so far.