POST GAME CHICAGO - HOME - PLAYOFF SERIES #1

Celtics lose Game 1 to Bulls 106-102 despite gutsy performance from Thomas

CSNNE

By A. Sherrod Blakely April 16, 2017 9:18 PM

Devin McCourty on brother Jason: 'I hope we're interested in him'

A McCourty family reunion in Foxboro sounds like a great idea, and the two brothers would love to play together, but it feels like it may be a difficult fit.

BOSTON – The TD Garden crowd stood in silence, paying their respects to Chyna J. Thomas, Isaiah Thomas’ 22-year-old sister who was killed in a one-car accident on Saturday.

Thomas stood next to his teammates, streams of tears slowly but surely flowing down his cheeks.

Game 1 of the playoffs was going to be an emotional affair for Thomas.

But dealing with that AND the death of his baby sister?

Thomas delivered an impressive, gutsy effort with a game-high 33 points against the Chicago Bulls in Game 1 of their best-of-seven playoff series.

But he didn’t get enough help from those around him, resulting in Boston dropping a 106-102 Game 1 loss to the Bulls. Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be Tuesday at the TD Garden.

The Celtics had one opportunity after another in the closing minutes to swing the game’s momentum in their favor, only for shots to be off the mark or an inability to get defensive rebounds which only added to the pressure Chicago’s two-headed monster – Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade – puts on a team defensively.

A jumper by Bobby Portis with 1:18 to play gave the Bulls a 101-92 lead which essentially put the game away.

Boston got a quick lay-up from Al Horford and forced the Bulls into calling a time-out as they struggled to get the ball past half court.

Jimmy Butler scored on a driving lay-up, with Boston’s Jae Crowder coming back with a 3-pointer.

Butler, who led the Bulls with 30 points, was called for an offensive foul which gave the Celtics the ball back trailing by six points.

Crowder missed a pair of contested off-balance 3’s before the Bulls got the rebound and soon got the ball back into the hands of Butler.

He was fouled and split a pair of free throws.

Moments later, Isaiah Thomas drained a 3-pointer that made it a 104-100 game.

Chicago’s in-bound pass with less than 14 seconds to play resulted in an official review when it was not clear as to who the ball last touched before it went out of bounds.

After the review, the official call on the floor – Chicago Bulls ball – was overturned which gave the Celtics possession of the ball with 14.1 seconds to play.

Thomas drove into the lane and scored with 7.5 seconds to play which made it a one-possession game.

The Bulls immediately called a time-out.

Out of the time-out, they got the ball into Butler’s hands.

He was fouled with 3.3 seconds to play, and made both free throws that sealed the victory for the Bulls.

It was fitting that the game was decided in the closing moments considering after three quarters of play, it was tied at 74.

After three quarters of play, the Celtics found themselves exactly where they were to start the game.

With a 74-all tie going into the fourth, Butler struck first with a jumper to put Chicago ahead 76-74. Boston cut the lead in half when Gerald Green made the second of two free throws with 10:24 to play.

The Celtics seemed incapable of getting the much-needed defensive stop, with the Bulls getting major contributions from players other than Butler and Wade.

Robin Lopez stepped up big as a scorer with 12 of his 14 points in the first half.

And off the bench, Portis had a Taj Gibson-like game – a thorn in the Celtics' side who the Bulls traded away – with a near double-double of 19 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

Despite the Celtics having one of their worst games in a while, they were down 87-85 with 6:11 to play following an Al Horford dunk which seemed to get the TD Garden crowd to their feet.
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Bulls 106, Celtics 102: Isaiah Thomas’s emotional effort not enough as Celtics lose playoff opener

CSNNE 04.16.17 at 9:16 pm ET

By John Tomase

Isaiah Thomas of the Celtics ties his shoes, with messages dedicated to his late sister, Chyna Thomas, who was killed in a car accident on Saturday. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Isaiah Thomas of the Celtics ties his shoes, with messages dedicated to his late sister, Chyna Thomas, who was killed in a car accident on Saturday. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Isaiah Thomas wasn’t even a definite to play when Celtics coach Brad Stevens addressed reporters an hour before Game 1 of their first round playoff series against the Bulls.

“I think his intention is to play,” Stevens said.

By warmups, it was clear that Thomas would take the floor for the most emotional night of his life. The question was if his teammates would join him.

They didn’t.

With the Bulls dominating the boards and the Celtics struggling to find scoring options beyond Thomas and center Al Horford, the Bulls claimed Game 1 of their first-round playoff series with a convincing 106-102 victory.

Thomas played with a heavy heart following the death of his 22-year-old sister Chyna in a single-car crash early Saturday morning in Washington state, but he still managed 33 points, five rebounds, and six assists.

During pregame introductions, he was the last player announced to a deafening roar. Instead of his usual buoyant energy, he slowly walked to the huddle with teammates, who surrounded him in what amount to a group hug.

Thomas came out of the gate on fire, scoring 13 in the first quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers that helped the Celtics open a six-point lead.

But the Bulls showed up to win, and they took it to the Celtics by exploiting their biggest weakness and dominating the one facet of the game Thomas couldn’t control — the boards.

Chicago outrebounded the Celtics 32-20 in the first half and 53-36 overall. Among their tally were 20 offensive rebounds, which provided countless second-chance opportunities.

The Bulls led 48-46 at halftime after Al Horford’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The squads were tied at 74 entering the fourth, but Bulls star Jimmy Butler took over, and too many Celtics possessions ended with Marcus Smart misfiring on 3-pointers.

Thomas did his part with 13 points in the frame, but Butler was a beast on both ends, scoring 15 points, including the clinching free throws, and helping swallow up the Celtics on the perimeter and force someone other than Thomas to beat them. Virtually no one stepped forward.

Horford (19 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists) did his part, but the only other Celtic in double figures was Avery Bradley (14).

112288

The ugly weakness of the Celtics showed its head tonight which lead to a loss and loss of home court advantage.

Yes I am speaking about rebounding! We were out rebounded 53 vs. 36
broken down further - Chi >OF RB 20/ DR 33. Celtics > Of RB 12/ DR 24

That is all she wrote.

Just a closing comment, you would think the team would be energized and play mad dog basketball for IT just to show support for a fallen teammate. However, IT carried the Celtics one more time this season. One man cannot carry a team on his back every game night in and night out.

112288

We are gonna see which players are capable of playing playoff basketball and which players are not. Last year we all saw how Sully couldn't play at this level, by the end of the playoffs we will have weeded out another or a few more. Right now the guy whos playing like a spasz and not carrying his responsibilities to me is KO and I don't care that 2 offensive rebounds fell in his hands, the guy sucked both ends. Crowder had a lot of opportunities to help us, but fell short big time. Amir has to rebound better, Kelly has limitations, Amir needs to step up, as does Al, we can't keep getting pummeled on the boards like that, if we do, it will be another first round exit and changes will be made.

I said on the dboss thread what do we do if they overload the D on IT? Brilliant strategy by them putting Butler on IT during last 4-5 minutes of 4th. IT to his credit did not back down and still drove hard for some miraculous drives/finishes, butt we know this isn't the best way to win, relying on IT to take over every night and the little guy takes such a beating. We didn't use Jaylen enough, he has advantages in most match ups just because hes such a freak athlete. I'd rather watch him learning on the fly, breaking down his defender, getting to the line, than seeing Crowder and AB failing, both are gritty, but giving them too much scoring responsibility might not work either. Stevens should have already had plays developed and being run, where Jaylen goes to an open spot or open lane playing off of IT, Crowder does not have that kind of quickness or finishing ability to run those type of plays off of IT.

Imagine what this team could do if we had someone like Lopez.
I think they are going to have to take a chance on getting back too slow on defense by team rebounding. At least 3 guys, maybe 4 are going to have to box out and rebound or we're on our way home early again this year.

Berlin-T wrote:Imagine what this team could do if we had someone like Lopez.
I think they are going to have to take a chance on getting back too slow on defense by team rebounding. At least 3 guys, maybe 4 are going to have to box out and rebound or we're on our way home early again this year.

I imagine what this team would look like with Butler...but I am an outlier

Long term, losing out to the Bulls in the playoffs first round might be the kick in the ass Danny needs to get players who can rebound and shoot. IT is carrying, valiantly, way too big a load. Agree with Cow that Jaylen is way too much underutilized. I hate the Smart-IT-Avery lineup. Too small. Not enough rebounding, especially when the bigs aren't even rebounding.

Hi,
There was no fire in the IT4's supporting cast.
I hope Brad finds some words or whatever to make this fire and make it white. Otherwise they can start booking t-times.
Also, Brad has to find ways to free IT4 or make Chi sorry for sticking their best players with IT4.
I hope he will.

AK

The team let IT down last night.  Remember when Pierce and KG came back to the Garden for the first time as a Net and they had that big video "Thank You"?  They were emotional wrecks, and their teammates knew it and wanted to win the game for them.  Who stepped up last night to take the weight off of IT's back?  Horford, and that's about it.  Everybody else was pretty UNimpactful.  18-31, that's IT and Horford last night combined.  The other 3 starters were a combined 11-33, 33%.

20 offensive rebounds, 8 by Lopez alone.  Nobody kept them off our boards.  That's awful.  Will Zizic and Yabby fix that next year?  No, I don't think so.  They'll help but they need big minutes to offset that and they won't get that many, not next year.  We need a veteran board monster and defender to replace Amir.  I like Amir, I admire his intangibles and all the things he does that do not show up in the boxscore but we need rebounding.  Those 20 offensive rebounds gave them 20 more possessions and that's why they won the game.  They ended up with 91 fgas, we had 86.  If we had eliminated half those offensive rebounds they wouldn't have gotten to 106.  Or even 100.

22 points from our bench on 8-22, 36.3%, led by Smart's 3-9.  Not one of Smart's better games since he didn't stop anybody either.  Kelly's 3-8 is only marginally better and that's not saying much. Cowens dissed the "two offensive rebounds that fell into his hands", but he had 3 offensive rebounds and 3 blocks too.  Of our 27 total assists Kelly (3 in 23 minutes) and Smart (6 in 31 minutes) had 9, with only 2 TOs, so they did that well but their fg% was poor.  What's even sadder is that the bench's awful 36.3% is better than Amir/Jae/AB's 33.3%.  Imagine how much better this would look if someone besides IT and Horford were putting the ball in the net.  22 points by our bench.  19 points on 8-10 and 3-4 from 3 by Bobby Portis.  Picked 22nd in the same year Terry Rozier was drafted #16.

Crowder with a difficult defensive assignment on Butler but was awful on offense.  He rebounded, Thank God someone did!, but was 4-12 and 1-5 from 3.  Butler broke our backs in the 2nd half.  I think he had 5 points at halftime and ended up with 30.  For all those people who aren't willing to give up draft picks and players for Jimmy Butler, remember this game.

Despite our 43% shooting woes they shot 42.9%.  So, the problem was not our defense other than our rebounding.  They shot 43% despite having a bunch of high-percentage point-blank shots on offensive rebounds.

I watched the game at a friend's house. I told him before the game that I expected us to come out like a bunch of meth-crazed wolverines, for IT. I'm really disappointed I was wrong.


bob


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When has AB played well in a playoff game? Can anyone tell me?

Cowan,

I agree with your post 100%.

It just brought out our weakness by position. We need a rebounding, defensive center and a SF or SG that can fill the basket up. Outside of IT, who can you trust to make the Big Basket....no body!

As I said in another post, Chicago can be dangerous. If we lose IT to attend services this will really put us in the hole.

112288

worcester wrote:When has AB played well in a playoff game? Can anyone tell me?

Worcester,
To be fair, I remember one game when KG was so impressed that he tried to hug AB. I don't remember which game it was but I remember that AB played w/his shoulder injured.

AK

I just want to add this, rebounding problem could be fixed with other players besides the center boxing out and not letting opposing players control the paint.

Your small forward and power forward need to help out!

112288

bob was it me or was whenever KO was in in the first half that we were getting punked fiercely on the offensive boards?

Was that a playoff game? Yesterday was actually Avery's best palyoff game...14 points on 4 for 10 from 3, 1 for 3 from 2, no FTA's, 3 RB...

His playoff averages are .258% from 3 (Smartesque), .386% shooting overall, 2.5 RB per game and 1 assist per game. Not stellar for a team's #2 scorer.

Worcester,
Yes, it was a playoff game.
I'm not defending AB. As I mentioned before, the supporting cast let IT4 down and AB was one of them.

AK

cowens/oldschool wrote:bob was it me or was whenever KO was in in the first half that we were getting punked fiercely on the offensive boards?

Cow,

I wasn't on the Game On thread last night, so I don't know exactly who and when what was said.  I do know that, according to the play-by-play transcription, Robin Lopez had 5 offensive rebounds in the 1st quarter.  5.  Two of them happened before Kelly came in the game, and 2 of the OBs he got after Kelly came in the game were quick (i.e. he got an O-board, put it up and missed, grabbed his own miss for his 2nd O-board in the same possession, and put it in).  I know that, according to the play-by-play transcription, that Kelly came in for Amir, not Horford, with 5:54 left in the 1st and the score 17-12 Celtics.  At 3:02 left in the 1st Jaylen and Zeller came in for Bradley and Horford.  So, who guarded whom?  I seem to remember seeing Kelly out at the arc with Mirotic.  If my memory is correct he was not the one whose job was to keep Lopez off the glass, that would probably be Al Horford and then Zeller.  At the end of the quarter the score was 28-23.  So, Kelly came in when we had a 5 point lead and that's what we had when the buzzer sounded after 1.  Who did the damage, between 12 Bull points to 23?  Not Kelly's man, he was 0-1.  

I'm not saying Kelly had a great game, he didn't, I'm saying his culpability in Lopez's offensive rebounding is minimal since his man, Mirotic, is allergic to paint on offense.  In fact, in the minutes from 5:54, when Kelly came in, to 3:02 when Mirotic left (the same TO that AB and AH left in) Mirotic was 0-1 with zero rebounds (Lopez got an O-board and putback off his missed fga) and the score was 25-21 Celtics.  So, Mirotic left, Portis came in and we only added a point to our lead in the last 3:02 of the quarter.  

These aren't just eyeball observations, affected by a biased perception, these are statements of fact. Kelly did not give up points or rebounds to Lopez, or anybody else, before he came in the game. Period.

Bobby Portis had a helluva game.  8-10 and 3-4 from 3.  He's shooting 33.3% from 3 for the season, so he shot well above his season average.  You have to play the odds.  What shots do you give up and which ones don't you give up?  Ask me yesterday if I was ok with Bobby Portis taking 3s because we are hounding Butler and DWade and Lopez I'd have said 'yes'.  Obviously that didn't work out. Portis killed us along with Lopez on the boards and Butler from everywhere.


bob

.

bob I think at halftime KO had 1 rebound, think we need him and everyone to do better, we know Zeller is a stiff and KO to me is a girlie man. PF's should rebound consistently, we know that's not KO.

cowens/oldschool wrote:bob I think at halftime KO had 1 rebound, think we need him and everyone to do better, we know Zeller is a stiff and KO to me is a girlie man. PF's should rebound consistently, we know that's not KO.

Cow,

In today's NBA, and especially with Brad's inside-out offense, the players who need to rebound consistently are the players who are near the boards.  If they are bigs, then they should rebound.  If they are guards/wings, then they should rebound.  Unless you want to put a much smaller player on a 3pt shooter like Mirotic out at the arc so that Kelly can defend a player down low, putting him in position to be near a rebound, I don't know how to do it.  If you don't expect a fast player like IT to go from defending the arc to getting a rebound down low because their defensive assignment puts them out of position for that, why would you expect someone slower like Kelly (or Jonas, or Jaylen, or Jae or anybody else who is out there guarding someone) to rebound consistently?  If the Bulls hadn't traded Taj Gibson we might be having a very different conversation today because he would be in the paint, near potential rebounds, and so would his defender.  Instead, they have Mirotic outside to spread the floor and someone who can challenge 6'10" Mirotic' shot has to be out there to do it.  Bradley is a great defender, but at 6'2" would you expect him to seriously disrupt a 6'10" player's 3pt catch-and-shoot?  Only if he is right up there on him and then what's his chance of getting the rebound off that miss?

Players don't rebound or shoot 3pt fgs based upon position on the team (i.e. SG, PF, etc) anymore.  That perspective is, in my opinion, obsolete.  You rebound based upon your position on the floor when the shot goes up and if your man is 25' out then you are probably at least 18' out.  That's a long run, from 18' to the rim, to get a rebound I don't care how big you are.  On the other hand, if Marcus Smart is posting his man up, and misses, the chances of the guard defending him getting a rebound is a lot higher than if Marcus Smart was out 23' chucking up 3s, right?  Can't get a rebound if you're nowhere near the backboard unless it gets punched out or takes a weird bounce out or something like that.  

For someone who claims he "isn't a stat guy" you sure seem to be basing your opinion of Kelly's rebounding upon the boxscore and not on what his opportunities to rebound were based upon where he was positioned when the ball went up.  Mirotic went 1-9, 0-5 from 3.  His 4 non-3pt fgas had two from range (but 2s) and two in close (he made one of those, at the rim).  This means that whomever was guarding him spent most of their time out at the arc and nowhere near the basket where there were rebounding opportunities.


bob


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Let's not go full-fledged panic yet. Butler is a great player, but his 2nd half yesterday was insane. He can't keep it up. Portis is not yet a good enough player to repeat yesteday's performance. Wade is an old man. Rondo is, well, Rondo. Everything fell together for the Bulls on Sunday, where as the Celtics had kind of a dud. I just don't see the Bulls keeping this up, and their record agrees with me. Celtics will be better next time. But, of they lose again, sign me up for the panic train...

This happened after Butler hit the last 2 fritos to clinch it.


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bob
MY NOTE:  My thoughts exactly.

.

It is safe to say that Game 2 is a must win for Boston

There was a lot of issues with the way the Celtics played in game 1. Still not impressed with the Bulls..Is that the best ya got?

Go Celts

dboss

I'm with Cow: very disappointed with the girlie man. He lacks ganas, plain and simple. He suffered a lot in my estimation from the presence of Kevin McHale on the sidelines. McHale played with an inner fire. He refused to be denied. McHale blocked out like a madman; not many opponents got second-chance shots when McHale was around the basket. He also understood what every great Celtic did about the playoffs: every possession counts.

Most of all, the girlie man appears to lack basketball instincts. He played like a rookie out there on Sunday. Why doesn't he crash the boards? Answer- maybe I'm wrong, but he looked scared. Two plays in particular stick out. Once, after taking a 3 point shot, he started back on defense (as if he can play defense) as the ball hit the backboard and bounced out toward the foul line. No Bull was near it and, if Kelly had followed up his shot, he would have had a good chance to get the offensive rebound. Lopez religiously follows up his shots and that simple fact counts a great deal toward explaining why the Bulls won. (Lopez also has better hair, but that's another story) The other play was on defense. Kelly and one of the guards somehow ended up covering the same man out past the foul line while Kelly's man was left alone under the basket, where a quick pass led to an easy layup.

Why pick on Kelly? Because so much of the game is confidence. If you're on the Bulls and you see this girlie-looking guy missing shots and losing track of his man on defense, it has to give you confidence.

One other major gripe involves Jalen's role, or lack thereof, on offense. Time and again, he positioned himself in the corner out past the 3 point line. Why? It reminded me of the way Doc used Rondo back in the day. There was a guy on the old bdc board, Mike D from NP, who used to go ballistic because he thought Doc was not taking advantage of Rondo's skills. Well, Jalen is no Rondo (thank the gods). He needs to be in the middle of the action, not out on a limb picking cherries.

i talk with MikeD from NP every game, and every game he's furious with how Brad underutilizes Jalen, who is instructed to sit on that corner 3 spot, but no one passes him the ball. He's our most underutilized weapon. Marcus taking threes is our most over-utilized.

worcester wrote: i talk with MikeD from NP every game, and every game he's furious with how Brad underutilizes Jalen, who is instructed to sit on that corner 3 spot, but no one passes him the ball. He's our most underutilized weapon. Marcus taking threes is our most over-utilized.

I have felt that way for last 2 months, that Jalen needs to be given green light to create, Jae C and Avery showing us they can't carry us in playoff basketball on offense.

Once again Avery shows me that he does not have the mental strength for playoff basketball. He was 5-15 last night. Marcus was 6-10. Marcus, who is a terrible shooter, is a money player and very tough mentally and physically. I say we trade Avery along with some draft picks and other assets (KO) and refurbish our team with a rebounder and a shooter.

BTW, Brad is a great college coach and a great regular season coach, but he's cracked under the pressure of the playoffs. He's made huge strategic errors, playing three guards and sitting Jalen, drastically shuffling the rotation and destroying our continuity. He's been out coached by Fred Hoiberg, a lousy coach. Either Brad learns how to play chess in a playoff series or he needs to be replaced. Drastic, yes, but he can't undermine the psychic harmony of a season's development in the team without consequences.

The Celtics in the past always had a very smart coach - Red, Russ, Tommy, KC, and Doc - who knew how to coach in the playoffs. The Celts also had really intelligent leaders on the floor - Cousy & Russ, Havlicek, Bird, and then KG-Pierce-Allen-Rondo - to guide the team to victory in the playoffs. We now have neither a smart coach nor a smart leader on the court. Rondo provided that intelligence for the Bulls last night, slicing and dicing us. I love IT, but he is pure and simple a scorer, not a strategist nor tactician on the court. We need a leader. I hope Fultz has that savvy. I think Jaylen will in time, if he ever gets minutes on the court.

I am pissed off.