The Chicago Suntimes talked to Wayne Winston, who has a new book out, Mathletics. In his discussion with the Suntimes, Winston talked some Bulls.

”In my mind, [letting go of Ben Gordon] is going to go down as one of the dumbest moves in sports,” he said, ”especially to the team that’s going to probably beat you out for the last playoff spot.”

Winston called the Bulls’ first-round playoff series against the Celtics last season the greatest series of all time and had a theory about why the Bulls came up short.

After breaking down the minute-by-minute matchups in the series, he found the Bulls were at their worst when forwards Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah were on the court at the same time. In the 127 minutes the two played together, the Bulls were outscored by 71 points.

But Winston said the Bulls’ lineup of Gordon, Kirk Hinrich, Derrick Rose, Brad Miller and either Thomas or Noah — which they had on the court for 56 minutes in the series — outscored the Celtics by 42 points.

”You can’t play your best lineup all the time,” he said. ”It just doesn’t work that way. But Noah and Thomas on the court together never worked the entire season. It’s just not a good lineup.”

Is letting Ben Gordon go one of the dumbest moves in all of sports? I don’t know about that, I guess it depends how you define all of sports. Is it a dumb move? I definitely think so. If he is talking about just in this past year in sports, it is probably one of the dumbest. I would have to look at some of the other dumb moves in sports history. It also has to be how you define moves. If you look at it just as what team’s do once they have talent, then yes, it may be up there. But if it’s just any move, you can look at a myriad of moves more idiotic, such as the Pistons drafting Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade or Michael Jordan drafting Kwame Brown with the top pick in the draft.

None the less, I think if you disregard the hyperbole, Winston is correct, and that is letting Ben Gordon go was a dumb move, especially when he was willing to re-sign for $9 million a year at one point.

The second part about Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah is spot on as well. The downfall of the Bulls after their return to relevance in the John Paxson era was the decline of their interior defense. When Ben Wallace declined, the Bulls interior defense declined. The Bulls were left with with a front court of Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah, who both are power forwards. Neither has the strength to play the center position and in Noah’s case, I don’t think he has the vertical reach to play it effectively either.

Every second the Bulls played with both Thomas and Noah in the Celtic’s series, they were at a disadvantage. Neither could hold court with the Celtics’ wide bodies of Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis. Perkins and Davis were able to back both players down on the low post, and push around both guys to gain a rebounding edge.

82games.com has by position ranks for each team in the league.

Here is how the Bulls ranked out at the power forward and center positions defensively.

Power Forward:

Points Allowed: 24th
Rebounding: 28th
Free Throw Attempts Given: 22nd

Center:

Points Allowed: 29th
Rebounding: 23rd
Free Throw Attempts Given: 26th

The Bulls front court was atrocious last year. They gave up a lot of points, fouled the other team a lot, and failed to rebound the ball effectively. The Bulls defensive woes were all in the front court. Defensively, the Bulls ranked solidly in all of the perimeter positions.

The reason for the Bulls’ defensive woes last year were unfairly lumped on Ben Gordon. They should have been lumped on Tyrus Thomas and Joakim Noah (and to a lesser extent Derrick Rose).

The Bulls should have foresaw this problem. Here is what I wrote in my preview for the Bulls vs. Celtics series.

In the keys to the series:

Battle of the Front Courts - Boston has one of those front courts, even without Garnett, that could give the Bulls trouble. Brad Miller, Joakim Noah, and Tyrus Thomas need to body up the Celtics’ big men, and secure rebounds. The Celtics have those big men with big wide bodies who get after the rebounds that give the Bulls trouble.

and then my prediction for the series:

Prediction

Celtics in 7 games.

I think the Bulls will play some good basketball in this series, but that they will come up short, on the road in game seven. I think Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon will have some big games in the series, helping the Bulls get victories by themselves. I think Salmons will have a big game or two, but will also have some games where he brings nothing, because of his groin injury. Paul Pierce will probably have a great series scoring the ball, as Salmons is in no condition to play great defense against Pierce. But I think the Bulls will lose the series in the front court, as the Bulls will give up too many second chance points as they let the Celtics’ wide bodies get too many offensive rebounds.

I think when push comes to shove in the playoffs, Joakim Noah will be a hindrance as a starting center. He could start at power forward and be fine, or be one of those guys who plays both big man positions, but only plays center against backups and smaller centers. But against the big centers that all of the elite teams have, Noah will be eaten alive.

Unrestricted free agent Ben Gordon stretches out on the couch with MOUTHPIECE personality Jillian Jesk to discuss the Chicago Bulls’ playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Plus, BG breaks down Derrick Rose’s first year in the league and Vinny Del Negro’s first year at the helm.

The Chicago Bulls’ great second half of the season ended Saturday night as they were ousted from the playoffs in Game 7 of their First Round series with the Boston Celtics.

The Bulls looked good early, jumping to a 18-11 lead with about seven minutes left in the first quarter. Gordon came out of the gate looking focused and on fire, scoring 10 points in the first 5 minutes of play. The Bulls would lead 27-23 at the end of one.

The Bulls would open the second quarter opening up a 32-32 lead behind two jumpshots by Ben Gordon. But those were Gordon’s last points of the half, and Boston would jump to a 52-38 lead.

The Bulls would whittle down the Celtic’s lead to 7, as Ben Gordon capped off the third quarter with a three point shot to make it a 78-71 games, but the Celtics never let the Bulls go on a commanding run to completely get back in the ball game.

Kirk Hinrich scored the Bulls first 6 points of the fourth quarter to cut the lead down to four, 81-77, but that was as close as it was going to get. Eddie House promprlty made a three pointer to put the Celtics back up by 7. He was called for a taunting technical, as he felt obligated to say something to the Bulls’ bench. The Celtics never let the Bulls get within 5 from there on out and pulled through with the victory.

Ben Gordon was great given that he had a hamstring injury. The way he went out and scored 17 points early on, I thought he might be getting ready to drop 50 on the Celtics to match Ray Allen, but then Gordon went cold. He still finished with a phenomenal 33 points. He shot only 7-23, but made up for it by going 15-15 from the free throw line. Gordon did a great job getting to the line, and overall, a great game given the hamstring injury.

His UConn counterpart, Ray Allen, also had a good game, scoring 23 points. Like Gordon, Allen did a good job getting to the line, drawing 9 free throw attempts.

Joakim Noah was very good again, finishing with 7 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He would foul out of the game. This was Noah’s fourth 15 rebound game of the series. His hard foul on Rondo was great, someone had to send a message to Rondo, and Noah stepped up and did it.

Kirk Hinrich did a good job scoring 16 points off the bench, scoring all but 2 of them in the fourth quarter. He really gave all he could to keep the Bulls from getting eliminated, but it wasn’t enough.

Derrick Rose finished with 18 points and only 3 assists. He started the game off good, and was part of that initial charge, but quickly faded. Next year, he will have to be more aggressive, and have prolonged excellence throughout the game, instead of just in spurts. We have already seen Gordon make the leap from a spurt player to a full game impact player, so hopefully Rose wil lbe able to do the same.

Eddie House was big off the bench, scoring 16 points, going 4-4 from three. In past games, the Celtics weren’t getting production from their bench. Tonight they did, and that was the difference.

The Bulls really god beat up by the Celtics’ big men tonight. Kendrick Perkins had 14 points and 13 rebounds. Glen Davis had 15 points, and even Brian Scalabrine got in the action scoring 8 points.

Paul Pierce scored 20 points for the Celtics. John Salmons had 12 points on 3-12 shooting.

With the victory, the Celtics win the first round series 4-3, advancing to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals where they will take on the Orlando Magic.

Closing Comments

Before the series, I predicted Celtics win the series in 7 games, because we would lose the front court battle, giving up too many second chance points. That is exactly how the Bulls ended up losing this series in 7 games, by getting beat by the Celtics’ depleted front court. Make no mistake about this, Joakim Noah was the best big man in the series. It’s not debatable. But Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis, throughout the entire series, outplayed Brad Miller and Tyrus Thomas by a wide margin. Tyrus Thomas in particular was a big problem for us in this series, as he got killed on the glass.

It was a pretty good season for the Bulls. They played in one of the most intense playoff series of all time, featuring 7 overtime periods. Hopefully they can take the intensity from this series, while keeping largely the same team, and applying that intensity to the regular season next year, for a much better regular season and an easier playoff matchup.

I usually end by saying “Go Bulls!”, but I will end this season by saying: Re-sign Gordon!

Four instant classics and four overtimes weren’t quite enough for the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics. On Thursday night, the two teams got tangled in what many are saying is the greatest playoff game ever, as the two teams made their fifth instant classic of the series, and tacked on three more overtimes in the triple overtime thriller.

With 10:16 left in the game, Tyrus Thomas slammed in a dunk to give the Bulls an 88 to 76 lead. Surely this time they would hold onto the league? Not quite….following a Tyrus Thomas jumpshot, which gave the Bulls a 91 to 81 lead, the Celtics went on an 18 to 0 run to take a 99 to 91 lead with 3:38 left in the game. The Bulls had just let their season slip away.

But the Celtics would only make one more shot in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls would not let their season end this way, giving up another double digit lead in the fourth quarter. They fought back. Brad Miller even made another three to make it a 101 to 99 game. Then Miller made a layup, somewhat reminiscent of the one at the end of game 5, only this time it went in, to tie the game at 101 a piece.

Paul Pierce missed the game winning attempt for the Celtics, and then the Bulls got their chance to tie it up. The Bulls put it in Ben Gordon’s hands, and he just put up a horrible shot. It’s not so much the actual look, but more so the shot. He just put up a really flat shot, that was an airball. He needs to get arch on that shot. That type of shot won’t go in when it’s that flat.

The Bulls took a 107 to 103 lead with 2:13 left in the overtime period. Gordon would foul a few moments later, fouling Pierce. The Bulls would be going on without their usual clutch savior. And of course, the Celtics come back, and take a 109 to 107 lead. John Salmons gets the score to tie it up, and once again, Paul Pierce missed the potential game winner. Onto double overtime for the second game in this series.

Glen Davis came out in the second overtime made his third straight shot to give the Celtics a 113 to 111 lead. John Salmons then hit a big three to give the Bulls a 114 to 113 lead, and followed it up with a layup for the 116 to 113 lead. Kendrick Perkins fouled out in between the Salmons scores. But Ray Allen answered with a crazy fall away shot over Joakim Noah to make it a 116 to 115 game with 20 seconds left. The Celtics were forced to foul, and Brad Miller made both free throws. But Ray Allen would respond by making a three from the left wing to tie the game at 118 a piece. Brad Miller turned it over on a pass as time expired…onto a third overtime.

Glen Davis and Derrick Rose scored the early points in the third overtime. Ray Allen hit a jumper to tie it at 123. The score would remain here for over a minute. But Joakim Noah stole the ball from Paul Pierce, and beat Pierce down court for a powerful slam, that Noah drew the and one foul on. Pierce fouled out of the game here, and Noah hit the free throw to give the Bulls a 126 to 123 lead.

Eddie House made a jumpshot to make it a 1 point game, but Brad Miller made two free throws after the intentional foul to give the Bulls a 128 to 125 lead. Rondo would miss a layup but get the tip in to make it a 128 to 127 game.

It looked like the Bulls were about to choke this away. Kirk Hinrich missed a layup, which is unacceptable in the clutch. Upon further review, it looks like Rondo committed goaltending here, touching the rim. He should have made it regardless of the small contact Rondo made with the win, but a goaltend is a goaltend, and it should have been called.

Rajon Rondo tried to be the hero, and took a fallaway jumper, which Derrick Rose blocked. Kirk Hinrich knocked the ball to Rose in a skirmish for the ball. Rose here missed two free throws, Rajon Rondo missed a half court shot, and the Bulls won 128 to 127.

Now time to break down the players.

I will start with Ray Allen tonight. He was phenomenal, scoring 51 points. Absolutely unstoppable. What makes Allen’s performance even more impressive is that he has made all the big shots.

Kirk Hinrich had a pretty nice game with 11 points and 7 assists. In the first quarter, Rondo grabbed Hinrich by his arm and threw him into the scorer’s table. Kirk Hinrich went right back at Rondo and shoved him. Rondo was lucky that the ref jumped in right away, as it looked like Kirk Hinrich was about to beat him up.

I thought the way Kirk Hinrich went at Rondo, he was just trying to get a fight going, and trying to take Rondo out of the series as the result of a fight. But upon further review of this, Rajon Rondo threw an elbow at Kirk Hinrich, which missed, and that is why Hinrich went after Rondo in the way he did. If the NBA has any type of consistency, Rajon Rondo will be sitting out Game 7 with a suspension, just as Dwight Howard sat out Game 6 in the Magic vs. 76ers.

Rondo was called for a flagrant one. It was originally called a flagrant two and ejection on the court.

If Rajon Rondo is sitting out game 7, he will have no one to blame but himself.

Brad Miller finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds. He was big, hitting the clutch three, the layup, sinking his free throws. I was glad that Miller was able to redeem himself after Game 5. It wouldn’t have been fair for Miller to have to take blame for losing the series. Rondo should have been called for a flagrant there, and Miller should have been subbed out, as he was in no condition to be playing basketball, and Gordon would have made his free throws, and the Bulls may have won game 5. But the refs made the wrong call, putting Miller in this bad situation. Miller redeemed himself in Game 6, and I hope no one blames him for losing us this series.

Derrick Rose finished with 28 points, 7 assists, and 8 rebounds. He also had 5 turnovers, which looks bad on the surface, but really isn’t that bad when you consider he played nearly 60 minutes. Rose was great in the first half, but horrible from there on out, barely being able to hit a shot. He did come up with the big block in the third overtime, but missed the two free throws. Rose’s efficiency wasn’t all that great tonight. A similar scoring night efficiency wise to Gordon’s 26 in Game 5. I’d like to see an efficient game from Rose scoring the ball to close out the series.

Joakim Noah with 9 points and 15 rebounds, and the big steal and dunk. I won’t say this is by itself the most important play of the season. Gordon’s game winner against Detroit to guarantee avoiding Cleveland, Gordon’s game tying three are very important. This is in a way the biggest play of the season, it’s just tied with a few others. Just a great play for Noah, we are going to be talking about this play for years to come. If it hasn’t become clear to Bulls fans yet, Joakim Noah is a winner. He makes big plays, and does the little things that are important in winning. No wonder Florida won two straight national championships.

John Salmons stepped up with the big scoring night, with 35 points on 13-22 shooting. We needed a big game from Salmons, especially with Gordon in foul trouble, and Salmons delivered.

Ben Gordon finished with 12 points on 4-14 shooting and 4 assists. Gordon again didn’t have an efficient scoring game. He seemed to drive to the hoop more often than normal. I thought he had some really nice passes. I think this was an example of the refs taking a player out of the game. Gordon was called for touch foul after touch foul. I think the refs had a vendetta set out from the beginning to foul out Ben Gordon after Ray Allen fouled out in Game 5. Gordon drew a technical after he was in disgust over one of the fouls called on him.

Paul Pierce had 22 points. I think the refs assisted him to his 22 points. He was the recipient of a lot of these ticky tack fouls.

Kendrick Perkins finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds and 4 blocks. Another good game from Perkins. I like Perkins game a lot. He gives what I like out of a center, which is a tough guy, who can’t be moved in the paint, who takes up a lot space in the paint. Celtics have a keeper at center here.

Rajon Rondo finished with 8 points, 19 assists, and 9 rebounds. Another near triple double. I don’t think this game was as good as the others. I think a lot of the assists were the result of playing 57 minutes, and also Ray Allen just being on fire. Nothing special really that Rondo did.

Glen Davis had 23 points on 10-18 shooting. He was hitting some big shots for the Celtics, but fouled out.

With the win, the Bulls even the series at 3-3. Game 7 will be Saturday in Boston at 7 PM.

Closing Comments

Great win for the Bulls. No one is going to be saying the Bulls don’t have playoff experience anymore. What more could you experience in a playoff series. Game tying shots? Check. Game winning shots? Check. Overtime? Check. Double overtime? Check. Triple overtime? Check. A guy dropping 50+ points on you? Check. The Bulls have experienced just about everything you can in a series.

I think the Ben Gordon fouling out could end up being a blessing in disguise, as the Celtics’ big three and Glen Davis all played over 50 minutes, while Ben Gordon should be relatively fresh, only playing 31 minutes. Tyrus Thomas should also be pretty fresh, as he hasn’t really logged big minutes at all this series. Brad Miller, also only played 34 minutes, and Kirk Hinrich played 42 minutes, which isn’t all that much given Kirk’s limited burn. Derrick Rose and John Salmons were the only two guys that logged major minutes, both playing nearly 60 minutes in the game. The Bulls should be much fresher than the Celtics going into Game 7.

Hopefully Game 7 doesn’t end up being a let down, like Game 7 of the Hawks vs. Celtics series last year. But this one is a bit different, as we were in it down to the final possession in all three games in Boston, winning one of them. Atlanta never really competed in Boston.

I think it is clear that this is probably the greatest playoff series ever. So many overtimes, so many big shots, and some chippy play. I don’t remember anything like this in my 11 years of watching basketball as a hardcore, and don’t remember seeing anything like this on ESPN Classic or Sports Century. The drama is just too great.

I would love for the Bulls to just go in and blowout the Celtics in Game 7, but it doesn’t seem fitting for it to end that way. It seems like another overtime thriller would be more fitting, with Gordon hitting another game winner, or Derrick Rose hitting his first game winner of his career.

I am really excited for Game 7 and I think the Bulls will come out and compete hard.

Go Bulls!

The Bulls and Celtics participated in their third instant classic game of the series.

This was a game full of lead changed. A Ben Gordon jumpshot with about three minutes left in the third quarter gave the Bulls a 7 point lead, their largest of the game. A few minutes later, at the end of the third, Boston was up by 5.

With the game tied at 93 with 31 seconds left in the game, Ben Gordon drove to his right, putting in a shot over two Celtic defenders to give the Bulls a 95 to 93 lead.

Glen Davis then missed an easy lay-in, and Tyrus Thomas split a pair at the line. Ray Allen then answered with a three to knot the game at 96.

This was a mind numbing defensive sequence by John Salmons. He switched onto Rajon Rondo, leaving Ray Allen wide open. I would rather take my chances with Rajon Rondo wide open for three than Ray Allen.

The Bulls then put the ball in Derrick Rose’s hands, who missed a floater off back iron to bring the game into overtime.

In overtime, the Celtics pulled away, taking a 105-100 lead as Ray Allen and Paul Pierce got going. But John Salmons hit a big three point shot to make it a 105-103 game.

The Bulls then traded buckets, making it a 107-105 game in favor of the Celtics. Salmons then stripped the ball from Pierce, passed it ahead to Kirk Hinrich, who drew a clear path foul on Brian Scalabrine with 26.6 seconds left in the game. So the Bulls were going to tie it up at 107, and then take a last second shot that would either go in, leaving he Celtics with a little over 2 seconds left, or miss the shot, likely winding down the time in the first overtime period? Not quite, as Kirk Hinrich only made 1 of the 2 free throws.

Paul Pierce was fouled, and made only 1 of 2 from the line. 108-106 Celtics. Then Ben Gordon drove left, and drew a foul on Glen Davis. Gordon took a nasty fall, landing hard on his back. Gordon missed the first free throw, likely shaken up from the fall, but made the second to make it a one point game.

The Bulls had to foul Ray Allen, who sunk two from the line to make it a 110-107 Celtics advantage with 9 seconds left in the ball game.

Then, Ben Gordon inbounded the ball to Salmons, who passed it back to Gordon, who dribbled to the wing, with Paul Pierce on him, elevated for three and swish. Gordon celebrated his three with a nut-check.

Rajon Rondo then missed a midrange jumpshot to bring the game into a second overtime, tied at 110.

In overtime, the Bulls jumped to the early lead, mainly by getting defensive stop after defensive stop in the overtime. Gordon started out the second overtime by making a jumpshot from the free throw line. Salmons put the Bulls up 4 with a layup. Then Rose found Joakim Noah for a nasty dunk to give the Bulls a 116-112 advantage.

Noah was then fouled on a rebound, and split a pair of free throws to give the Bulls a 117-112 lead.

Paul Pierce then threw in a little hook shot over Joakim Noah, and was fouled. Pierce made his free throw to make it a 117-115 game with 27.3 second left in the game.

The Celtics decided to foul right away, and Salmons sank a pair at the line to give the Bulls a 119-115 lead.

Ray Allen then proceeded to miss a three point shot, but the ball was knocked out to Paul Pierce, who nailed a three to make it a 119-118 game.

The Celtics fouled Salmons again, who made a pair to give the Bulls a 121-118 lead with 16.9 seconds left. The Celtics, who were out of timeouts, had to dribble the ball down the court following the free throw. Paul Pierce ended up taking the final shot, going for three, and John Salmons blocked the shot, Ben Gordon grabbed the rebound, and the Bulls won 121-118 in a double overtime thriller.

Derrick Rose was amazing and very bad in today’s game. The amazing, his near triple double, with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 9 assists. The bad, 7 turnovers. Rose had a turnover filled third quarter which really hurt the Bulls, but he rebounded strong in the fourth quarter. Vinny found a strategy that really worked, which was let the Boston big switch onto Rose in the pick and roll, and then have Rose drive to the basket. This was basically the Bulls’ staple play in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls milked it for a lot of points. With the exception of the third quarter, Rose was amazing.

Ben Gordon showed off his clutch ability again tonight. First, with the shot that gave the Bulls a two point lead at the end of the fourth over two Celtics’ defenders, and then of course, the big game tying three in the first overtime period. Ben Gordon finished with 22 points and 6 rebounds, and played big today. It was not his best overall game, he played pretty good defense in the first half, but played non-existent defense in the second half. Gordon was suffering from a hamstring injury, and that was really affecting his mobility on defense.

I thought Gordon went a little bonkers at the start of the second overtime period. He was just going out and trying to put the dagger, or ten daggers in the Boston Celtics in the second overtime period after making the game tying three. The shots he generated were for the most part good looks, in a normal game he probably generated 6-8 points on them. But given the circumstances of Gordon suffering from a hamstring injury, and taking a hard fall on his back, he should not have tried to take over the game by himself.

But Gordon rose to the situation, hitting the biggest shot of the game. Jon Barry said after the game that Ben Gordon hits more tough shots than any player in the NBA.

Joakim Noah again was the best of the Bulls’ front court. He finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks. He was making the big defensive plays in the overtime periods, and grabbing the big rebounds. Well done Joakim.

Brad Miller and Tyrus Thomas were mixed bags. Tyrus Thomas finished with the double double with 14 points, 10 rebound, 3 blocks, and 2 steals. But he missed some easy shots and was ineffective defensively.

Brad Miller finished with 12 points and 5 rebounds. He drew a technical foul after nudging Glen Davis in the face following a hard foul from Davis. On the nudge, Davis gregariously flopped, making it seem as though Brad Miller punched him. The original call was that Brad Miller committed a flagrant and was to be ejected from the game, but upon further review, the referees saw that Davis flopped, and changed it to only a technical. Miller needs to rebound and play better defense from here on out.

John Salmons finished with 20 points. He was a mixed bag as well. I thought he played horrible throughout regulation. He took a lot of really selfish shots. But he finished with 20 points, 3 steals, and 3 blocks, and made some big plays, including big shots, big steals, and of course, the big block on Pierce. Hard to say he had a bad game when like Gordon, he rose to the situation and made the big plays.

Kirk Hinrich had a big 18 point, 4 assist, 3 steal game. His defense was superb today, and his scoring was a big boost.

Again, Rajon Rondo was big for the Celtics. He finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists, for his second triple double of the series. He was difficult to stop once again, but he did not score in either of the overtime periods. The Bulls started giving him some double team looks late in the game, and they held him scoreless in the overtime period.

Ray Allen was great again, scoring 28 points and hitting the game tying three. It’ll be interesting to see how this series plays out. Hopefully Gordon’s hamstring heals well before the next game, as Gordon can play sufficient defense on Allen when healthy.

Paul Pierce struggled again, had a solid game, scoring 29 points, but shooting 9-24. His legs don’t seem to be under him, and that is causing him to miss a lot of shots he was hitting earlier in the year. Pierce had 6 turnovers in the game too.

The Bulls seemed to keep the Celtics’ wide bodies in check today. Kendrick Perkins finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds, but the Bulls forced him to turn it over 6 times. Glen Davis had a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, but shot only 4-16.

Brian Scalabrine played his first game of the series. I thought he looked bad, and hurt them, but his +/- for the game tells a different story, as he was +10. Still, I think playing Scalabrine any type of serious minutes will end up being a good way for Boston to throw away a game.

With the win, the Bulls even up the series at 2-2. Game 5 will be in Boston on Tuesday.

Closing Comments

The first comment I have tonight is Ben Gordon beter be a Bull next year. He has been clutch in all three of the playoff games that allowed him to be. In game one, he hit shot after shot in the fourth to help the Bulls extend the game to overtime. In game two, he rained in 42 points, matching Ray Allen shot for shot. Unfortunately, Ray Allen had the last shot. In this game, he had the go ahead bucket late in the fourth over to Celtic defenders, and then the game tying three in the first overtime. If it isn’t clear that they need to bring Ben Gordon back, then there is something wrong with Bulls’ ownerships, because they will clearly not care about the product on the court if they let Ben Gordon leave in free agency this summer.

The second comment is that Vinny Del Negro can coach. He has done two things that I didn’t’ see Scott Skiles do when he was here. First, he got the team to rebound after a devastating loss. Scott Skiles could never regroup the team after losses like game 3. In the Pistons series, it wasn’t until they were down 3-0 before they actually responded with more energetic, focused play. Secondly, Vinny Del Negro is making in game adjustments. He took advantage of a Rose driving on the Celtics’ bigs once he saw it worked, and then he found some success showing a double on Rondo with one of the bigs. That second one is something he seemed to steal from Tom Thibodeau, who was using a similar scheme to slow down Ben Gordon. Vinny’s adjustment was successful in both cases, as Rose carried the Bulls offense in the fourth quarter and the Bulls held Rondo scoreless in the overtime periods.

Good win for the Bulls tonight. Now go get the win in Boston, and bring this thing back to Chicago for the first possible elimination game of the series up 3-2.

Go Bulls!

The Bulls came home to the United Center to get their butts whooped by the Boston Celtics, who dominated them 107 to 86.

The Bulls came out shooting rough, and never recovered.

This game was a Celtics dominated game. Rajon Rondo was the Celtics’ leading force once again, finishing with 20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals. This guy is full of so much energy, so much aggression, and just leads his team. Bulls aren’t going to stop him in this series, Rose is one of the worst defensive point guards in the league, so they will have to hope that Gordon and Salmons can slow down Ray Allen and Paul Pierce if the Bulls have any hopes of winning this series.

Rondo had to be helped off the court at the end of the game, but I doubt that is meaningful. With an injury like Rondo’s, a lot of times you will feel just fine after stretching it out and getting the adrenaline flowing. I expect Rondo to be fine when out on the court, and to continue to dominate the point guard matchup.

Paul Pierce led the Celtics in scoring with 24 and Ray Allen accompanied him with 18 points. They scored their points, and with the Celtics’ big three all rolling, it was an easy win for the Celtics.

Ben Gordon led the Bulls in scoring with 15 points and also had 2 steals. He shot 5-13, and 4-6 from the free throw line. He started off the game missing some free throws and some shots, and didn’t have much of an impact tonight. He just needs to geti n the gym, realign his jumpshot, and he will be fine.

John Salmons had 14 points and 4 turnovers. He had some incredibly dumb plays in the game.

Kirk Hinrich gave the Bulls 14 points on 5-10 shooting off the bench and Joakim Noah gave the Bulls 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 2 blocks.

Derrick Rose had 9 points, 2 assists, and 7 turnovers. The Celtics cut off the lane, which rendered Derrick Rose pretty much useless. Rose needs to learn how to shoot the three point ball over the summer if he wants to stop this from happening again.

Glen Davis gave the Celtics an impressive 14 point, 9 rebound, and 6 assist game.

I think most embarrassingly of all, Stephon Marbury had 13 points and 5 assists off the bench off the Bulls.

The Bulls won the offensive rebounds battle tonight, but I think that was more of a function of the Bulls missing a lot of their shots while the Celtics made a lot of theirs.

With the Celtics victory, they take a 2-1 lead over the Bulls in the best of seven series. The two teams play again on Sunday at noon, on ABC.

Closing Comments

I will keep this portion brief. Everyone on the team pretty much played like garbage, while the Celtics played collectively good. Nothing more to this game than that really.

Hopefully the Bulls bounce back strong next game. I expect Gordon will, and same with Joakim Noah, I just hope the rest of the players rebound as well.

Go Bulls!

On April 20th, 1986, Michael Jordan set the record for most points in a playoff game with 63 points, as the Bulls lost to the Boston Celtics 135-131 in double overtime.

Today, April 20th, 2009, exactly 23 years later, Ben Gordon, who Kenny Smith called Ben Jordan after the game, did his best Michael Jordan impression. Gordon finished with 42 points, shooting 14-24, hitting 6 threes. Unfortunately, like Jordan, Gordon’s big game against the Celtics ended in a loss.

Gordon was able to tie the game at 115, breaking over a triple team for a midrange jumper. Then Ray Allen answered with 2 seconds left in the game with the game winning three. The Bulls were left without a timeout, threw up a heave, and lost, 118-115.

A lot of people are pointing the finger at Vinny Del Negro, but I can’t do that. I thought Del Negro deserves a lot of credit for having his team come out with the proper intensity that was needed to compete in this game.

I think Vinny used his timeouts properly. With the Bulls down by 2, they needed to take a relatively quick shot, so they had time just in case they missed. If they made, they would be giving Boston the last shot. In that case, Vinny could have very easily left a timeout on board, as regulation expired. The problem wasn’t that the Bulls had no timeouts, the problem was that they didn’t get a stop on the Celtic’s final posession of the game, with the shotclock turned off.

Ben Gordon was just terrific tonight. He started getting going in the second quarter, to lead the Bulls to a halftime lead. I thought in the second quarter, he did a good job of playing defense on Rajon Rondo as well.

I hope that Del Negro and company realize that the Celtics can’t stop Ben Gordon. They don’t have any real shotblockers with Garnett out, and Gordon can feast on the drive in this series. I think starting the game with some Gordon drives would be wise, now that Leon Powe is likely done for the series with a sprained knee. If the Bulls can draw some early fouls on Kendrick Perkins, then the Celtics are likely toast.

Derrick Rose was only so so today, finishing with 10 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds, and 2 blocks. He wasn’t horrible, and was taken out of the game a bit early on by early foul trouble. But you would like to see him be a lot more aggressive.

Rajon Rondo was phenomenal for the Celtics tonight. He finished with at triple double with 19 points, 16 assists, and 12 rebounds. He also had 5 steals. His speed is deadly, and gave the Bulls all sorts of problems in the first half. Rondo injured his ankle when he came down awkward after being blocked by Derrick Rose in the second quarter. We’ll have to wait and see how that injury affects Rondo. If it swells up and is bad, Celtics are toast. But I don’t think that will be the case. I think Rondo will still be able to play at a really high level.

Ray Allen, after a poor first half, caught fire in the second half, scoring 28 points in the second half, including the game winner. He finished with 30 points in the game. He was simply on fire, not much the Bulls could do.

Glen Davis and Kendrick Perkins killed the Bulls as well. Glen Davis finished with 26 points and 9 rebounds. He scored most of his points on midrange jumpers. Kendrick Perkins finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Paul Pierce finished with 18 points.

It is clear cut why the Bulls lost this game. Their fornt court played weak. It was a weird game from the front court, as they all played somewhat good. Tyrus Thomas finished with 6 blocks, but only 4 rebounds and 6 points. Joakim Noah finished with 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 2 steals. Brad Miller finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Their initial defense was good, but they just didn’t rebound the ball. After blocks, the ball would just be floating or bouncing there, and they wouldn’t grab it. The Celtics seized on this in the first quarter, scoring a ton of easy points off of Bulls blocks. The Bulls gave up 21 offensive rebounds. That’s how you lose basketball games.

Two simple things the Bulls can do that will greatly improve their chances of winning. If you’re going to foul, foul hard, so you don’t give up the and one, which the Bulls gave up all too many times tonight. And secondly, rebound the basketball.

John Salmons also had an inefficient 17 points for the Bulls.

Closing Comments

The Bulls are in a good position going back to Chicago tied 1-1. The Bulls went 28-13 at home this year, and based on the way they played Boston in these first two games, they stand a great chance to win these two home games. I don’t see the Bulls losing two out of their three home games in this series, so at best for Boston, this will go 7 games, which is what I predicted before the series began.

The best sight of the night was Tom Thibodeau’s expressions. He looked clueless as how to stop the Bulls’ offense. The Bulls have just made a mockery of Thibodeau’s defense, and they’ve done it the last 4 times the Bulls played the Celtics.

The Celtics are in a world of hurt. They don’t have a bench at this point in the series with Leon Powe injured. If the Bulls can get Kendrick Perkins in foul trouble, or really any of the Celtics main three perimeter players, the Celtics will be hurting, as their bench lacks anything really useful with all their injuries.

Good effort by the Bulls tonight, they just need to rebound better.

Go Bulls!