The Chicago Bulls let one get away in Boston tonight, as they lost to the Boston Celtics 106 to 104.

Rewind to 9:28 left in the fourth quarter, the Bulls are leading by 11, 77 to 66. Now fast forward to 5:45 in the fourth quarter, Ray Allen hits a three to make it an 83 to 80 game in favor of the Bulls. A few moments later, Ray Allen fouls out of the game with his sixth foul on a double foul with Brad Miller.

Yes, the Bulls gave up the lead, but they will roll to victory with Allen out now? Not quite. This is when Paul Pierce stepped up.

With 1:13 left in the fourth quarter, Paul Pierce hit a layup, as Boston finally tied the game at 91 a piece.

After a Rose turnover, and a missed shot by Rondo and rebound by the Bulls, they had the ball back with 27.2 seconds left in the game. The Bulls got the ball to Gordon, who was guarded by Stephon Marbury, who was playing tight defense. But Marbury let Gordon find a wide open look after picking up his dribble, and Gordon sank the potential game winner with 16 seconds left.

A few seconds later, Paul Pierce hit a turn around jumpshot from the free throw line to tie the game at 93.

Then Ben Gordon had his last shot at it. He drove left, took a step back, and fired up the fallaway jumpshot, off left iron, for the third time in the series, the game went into overtime.

This is the first series in NBA history to have three games go into overtime.

How did the Bulls give up that 11 point lead? Derrick Rose and John Salmons wilted under pressure. After the Bulls had an 11 point lead, Derrick Rose committed 3 turnovers. John Salmons missed 3 of his 4 shots, getting two of them blocked by Kendrick Perkins.

In overtime, Gordon really stepped up. He drew a foul and made two free throws, and then hit a tough one shot flicker from the free throw line. Still, with 36.5 seconds left, the Celtics had a 104 to 101 lead behind the clutch shooting of Paul Pierce.

But Ben Gordon was fouled on a three by Tony Allen, and Ben Gordon responded by hitting all three of the free throws to knot the game at 104 a piece.

Simple game plan, get the stop, call a timeout, and go for the win. But the stop part didn’t happen, as Paul Pierce hit another shot from just above the free throw line to give the Celtics a 106 to 104 lead. The shot would end up being the game winner.

The Bulls actually had a great player drew up by Vinny Del Negro. They found Brad Miller for a wide open layup attempt, as the Celtics were overly concerned with Ben Gordon getting the ball. But Brad Miller would serve up a three course meal of sucktitude.

First, Miller missed the layup, airballing it. He was fouled on the play by Rondo, so he still had a shot to tie it up. But he would miss the first free throw. So now he had to purposely miss the free throw, but he bricked it off the glass, so the Bulls didn’t even get a chance. Bulls would have to foul, Pierce missed a pair at the line, Celtics grabbed the rebound and won.

Now on this play, Rajon Rondo just smacked Brad Miller in the face. It should have been two shots and the ball for the Bulls, which would have been huge. Rondo wasn’t anywhere close to the ball, so this could not be considered a basketball play. If Miller had hit the two free throws, it would have been tied up, with the Bulls having the ball back to try to win it, or go into a second overtime. Even if Miller missed 1 or both of the free throws, the Bulls would have had another posession to try to tie or win the game. The Bulls should have had at least one more posession following the flagrant foul, but they didn’t.

Yes, the referees blew the call, it was definitely a flagrant, but the Bulls also blew this one by themselves. Derrick Rose and John Salmons shouldn’t have wilted down the stretch in the fourth, and Brad Miller should have sank his two free throws.

So now, breaking down the players.

Ben Gordon was great. It wasn’t his best game ever, but he still put up 26 points and 6 assists with a torn hamstring. He didn’t have the best efficiency tonight, but he stepped up and made the big shots in the clutch. Gordon scored 7 points in the overtime period, and scored 14 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and overtime period. Offensively, I thought he was generating some good looks, he was just missing his shots. Defensively, I thought he looked hindered early, but in the second half, he seemed to be moving around pretty well.

Derrick Rose was dreadful. 14 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, but 6 turnovers. Horrible. This guy needs to control the ball. His turnovers are really deflating the team, and they’re coming at crucial moments.

Kirk Hinrich was great in the first half, really stepping up. His defense was good all game. He finished with 19 points in the game. But where’d your offense go in the second half? We needed you Kirk.

John Salmons was so so again, finishing with 17 points on 5-15 shooting. Something really bugging me about Salmons is that he doesn’t shoot when he catches it. He will hold the ball, allowing the defense to get back on him, so every shot he takes is contested for the most part. So basically every shot Salmons take is some Larry Hughes style contested jumper. This isn’t a good thing. Salmons needs to start playing much smarter, and just take the shot right away.

Joakim Noah was great again. He finished with 11 points and 17 rebounds. He fought hard in the paint, and was just great. Tyrus Thomas finished with 12 points and 8 rebounds, but he wasn’t good. There were multiple plays where he didn’t even contest shots, and just let the Celtics score uncontested.

Brad Miller was horrible, and choked in the clutch. Although a corner three he hit off of a Gordon assist in the fourth quarter was a pretty big shot.

Rajon Rondo was terrific again. 28 points, 11 assists, and 8 rebounds. This game was a bit different. He wasn’t just burning Rose, who is one of the worst defenders in the league. Rather, the Bulls were meeting him with double teams, and he still destroyed the Bulls.

Paul Pierce, finished with 26 points. He looked really bad early in the game, but stepped up in the clutch, hitting the game tying shot to bring the game into overtime, and then hitting the game winner in overtime.

Glen Davis completely dominated Tyrus Thomas in particularly en route to 21 points.

Kendrick Perkins was a monster tonight. He had the Tim Duncan in the Finals a few years ago type statline, with 16 points, 19 rebounds, and 7 blocks. He finished the game with 0 fouls, which is ridiculous, as the guy pushes our guys so much, and comes down on the guards, that he should have easily had enough fouls to foul out. But if the refs are not calling it, why stop doing it? Smart play by Perkins to continue to push around the Bulls stringbean big men with the refs not calling fouls.

Ray Allen struggled today, only scoring 10 points. I thought Gordon did a pretty good job staying with Allen once he got through the initial soreness of his injury, and Vinny had some good schemes, where he would cover Ray Allen with a big with help defense from time to time. But Allen, like Gordon, helps his team so much just by being on the floor, as the entire other team is worried about letting him get open.

The Celtics bench is pure garbage, nothing more to say on them.

With the loss, the Bulls fall down 3-2 to the Celtics in this first round series. Game 6 will be in Chicago, at 6 PM on Thursday.

Closing Comments

This was the fourth instant classic game of the series. I really hope the Bulls can just come out and blow out the Celtics in game 6, as I’m not sure how many more close games I can take. The Bulls at points seemed to be on the verge of breaking open the game, but they never did.

Celtics deserve a lot of credit. They hit the big shots, and played tough all game long, and had just as much to do with their win as the Bulls’ mistakes.

Ben Gordon is a warrior. He is now averaging 25 points, and he is hitting clutch shot after clutch shot. It will be absolutely ridiculous if the Bulls let him go. He has earned his money with his great season followed by a great playoff series, with a gutsy game 5 performance on an injured leg. Jerry Reinsdorf better pay Ben Gordon what he is worth to keep him with the Bulls, because he is too valuable to let go.

Good effort tonight by the Bulls, just too many mistakes. I think the Bulls can take these next two, but he Celtics are right there, and could easily end this on Thursday. Come out on Thursday, defend your homecourt, and then just put it all on the line in Game 7.

Go Bulls!

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Tags: 2009 First Round, 2009 NBA Playoffs, Ben Gordon, Boston Celtics, Brad Miller, Chicago Bulls, Derrick Rose, First Round, flagrant foul, Glen Davis, Joakim Noah, John Salmons, Kendrick Perkins, Kirk Hinrich, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, Ray Allen, Tyrus Thomas

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