POST GAME CHICAGO - HOME - PLAYOFF SERIES ROUND #1 GAME #5

Celtics 108, Bulls 97: C’s roar to Game 5 victory, push Bulls to brink of elimination

WEEI

By John Tomase

For the first time in three trips to the playoffs, it’s not all about Isaiah.

The Celtics on Wednesday took a 3-2 lead over the Bulls with a 108-97 victory in Game 5, their third straight win after dropping the first two games at home, and they did it without a banner night from All-Star Isaiah Thomas.

Though Thomas had his moments, particularly during the game-clinching run in the fourth quarter, this one was about the supporting cast.

Avery Bradley scored 24 points with six assists. Big man Al Horford, a weapon all night in the pick and roll, chipped in 21 points, 7 rebounds, and nine assists, filling the stat line in all the ways the Celtics envisioned when they signed him over the summer.

The second unit contributed, whether it was monster dunks from Terry Rozier and Jonas Jerebko, 14 points and some clever finishes from a fired-up Kelly Olynyk, or another energetic performance from Marcus Smart (8 points, 8 assists).

That said, this one was still a game until midway through the fourth quarter. Despite playing without injured point guard Rajon Rondo, who was unable to go just days after breaking his thumb in Game 2, the Bulls hung tough and actually entered the fourth quarter with a one-point lead following Jimmy Butler’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the third.

But Thomas and Horford took over in the fourth, spearheading a 25-8 run to open the quarter as the Celtics pulled away. After scoring just seven points in the first half on 1-of-6 shooting, Thomas came alive in the second half and finished with 24 points, including a number of the fearless drives that are his trademark. Though he shot just 1-for-10 on 3-pointers, he went 11-for-11 from the free throw line; as a team, the Celtics went 23-for-23.

On the other side, aging star Dwyane Wade did his best to keep the Bulls in the game, nearly notching a triple-double with 26 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.

The Celtics had too much, however. They can close out the Bulls in Game 6 on Friday in Chicago. There’s a chance Rondo plays in that one, but the way the Celtics have played the last three games, particularly their second unit, it might not matter.
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Bradley steps up for Celtics in 108-97 Game 5 win over Bulls

CSNNE

By A. Sherrod Blakely April 26, 2017 11:05 PM

BOSTON – It was the little fella from Tacoma, Wash. getting it done for the Boston Celtics.

And no, I’m not talking about Isaiah Thomas this time.

It was the other half of the Celtics’ Tacoma tandem in the backcourt, Avery Bradley, who played the role of difference-maker all night long in Boston’s 108-97 Game 5 win over the Chicago.

Boston now leads the best-of-seven series 3-2, with a chance to move on to the next round of the playoffs with a Game 6 win at Chicago on Friday.

Bradley finished with a playoff career-high 24 points to go with six rebounds. Boston also got a strong game from Isaiah Thomas (24 points) and Al Horford (21 points, nine assists, seven rebounds).

Meanwhile, Chicago was led by Dwyane Wade who had a near triple-double of 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Jimmy Butler and Robin Lopez each had 14 points.

After three lead changes in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, Thomas’ short runner in the lane gave Boston an 96-89 lead with 5:40 to play, their largest of the game at that point.

That game-high milestone didn’t last long, with Horford making it a 98-89 game just 25 seconds later.

Boston’s crowd was into the game because of the team’s strong run that was fueled even more so by Celtics legend Kevin Garnett delivering a message on the Jumbotron to the fired-up Celtics faithful who were so loud that no one had any idea what the hell Garnett said.

Frustrated by the game’s momentum clearly in Boston’s favor, Wade was called for a technical foul on a play in which Thomas was fouled driving to the basket.

Just like that, Boston was on a 23-6 run following a pair of free throws by Horford that put Boston ahead 104-89.

Chicago was able to chip away at Boston’s lead, but never made up enough ground to where Boston’s down-the-stretch control was ever seriously threatened.

Boston’s ability to pull away in the fourth quarter looked nothing like what we saw through the first three quarters of play.

The third quarter looked like a carbon copy of the first half as they continued to exchange leads with neither team putting together the kind of run to put some distance between the two teams.

Knowing how pivotal Game 5 is in this series, it wasn’t all that surprising that both teams played with a heightened sense of urgency most of the game.

Not surprisingly, the third quarter margin was decided on the final shot of the quarter, a 3-pointer by Butler that gave the Bulls an 81-79 lead going into the fourth quarter.

After a back and forth first half with six ties and six lead changes, the Celtics went into the half clinging to a slim 52-50 lead.

Boston spent most of the first quarter playing catch-up to the Bulls who opened with a 12-4 run.

After missing several open to lightly contested shots to start the quarter, Boston soon got going behind Bradley whose nine first-quarter points allowed Boston to close the first with an 11-2 run and lead 23-20.

Chicago’s Bobby Portis tied the game with a 3-pointer, only for Boston to score four straight which included a breakaway dunk by Terry Rozier that led to the Bulls calling a time-out.

But Chicago, scrappy as ever, continued to stay within striking distance unlike Games 3 and 4 when they fell behind by 20 points in the first half of both games.

However, the Celtics looked on the verge of finishing the second quarter playing well.

After Chicago’s Paul Zipser made it a 40-37 game in favor of the Bulls, Boston went on an 8-2 run to lead 45-42.

But a Bulls time-out was just what Chicago needed as they got back-to-back scores by Butler to regain the lead, 46-45.

A 3-pointer by Thomas with less than a minute to play, his lone basket of the first half, would be the final made basket by the Celtics in the first half which was good enough to give them a slim two-point lead.

112288

GREAT GAME.... PLAYED TOUGH!  CELTIC TOUGH!  THIS WAS A TYPICAL SAM GAME........THANKS DICK FOR THE WIN!!!

WHAT DID KO EAT THIS MORNING HIS WHEATIES OR IRISH SODA BREAD...LOL!

IS ROZIER A KEEPER OR WHAT...DID YOU SEE HIS SPEED ON THAT BREAK AWAY....WOW!   SMART IS A MONEY PLAYOFF PLAYER!

COUPLE OF NEGATIVES.......WHY DID THEY NOT SET SOME PLAYS FOR GREEN?    WHY KEEP A HOT KO OUT OF ALMOST THE ENTIRE 3RD QUARTER?

112288

Avery RESURRECTED! Way to go Mr. Bradley! You've earned my respect again. Great game C's. Celtic Pride shines through. Rozier, Horford, Olynyk, Smart - all keepers and clutch players tonight. Even Jerebko. What a joy.

Hoiberg at it again, look at a replay of his end of game interview

No class. Hoiberg is a loser.

I just want to say that rooting is harder than playing and sometimes we go way overboard. I`m probably on the other end of the spectrum, overvalueing our guys because that`s my nature., but hey , for this  particular night , I` m not gonna gloat--- but the whipping boys won the game . Props to AB ( Fultz will automatically replace him) and KO ( he`s not a banger , so his contributions don`t count) . Let me guess tonight`s theme.--- we won despite IT trying to play " hero ball" which seems to mean continuing to take shots when you are missing  because , well, they might forget that you  are there and you are probably never going to make a shot  again. I  haven`t looked at the board yet, so, hopefully,  I am way off  base in anticipating responses

There you go. Nothing negative yet..  My bad.Looking for the Hoiberg interview now.

worcester wrote:Avery RESURRECTED! Way to go Mr. Bradley! You've earned my respect again. Great game C's. Celtic Pride shines through. Rozier, Horford, Olynyk, Smart - all keepers and clutch players tonight. Even Jerebko. What a joy.

+1

jrleftfoot wrote:

worcester wrote:Avery RESURRECTED! Way to go Mr. Bradley! You've earned my respect again. Great game C's. Celtic Pride shines through. Rozier, Horford, Olynyk, Smart - all keepers and clutch players tonight. Even Jerebko. What a joy.

+1

Kudos to Rozier , who might be a major contributor some day, and Jerebko who won`t, too

Hi,
It was a great win. Besides the numbers Celtics won the mental part of the game. I hope they'll carry it into game 6.
On the negative side, I worry about long distance shooting. The usual suspects, IT, AB and JC couldn't hit Boston harbor from the pier. And it's not the first time in this series. Hope it won't become a trend.

AK

What a great game.  The lead, or deficit, was never that big until the 4th quarter when we blew it up a bit.  

Da Bulls played great for 3 quarters but ran out of steam in the 4th, only scoring 16 points while we scored a very solid 29.  I could see Jimmy Butler getting a bit fatigued.  Hoiberg is an idiot.  The game was obviously lost, we were up 13 with only 1:39 left before he took out Butler and Wade.  At that point, though, Butler had played 39 minutes and 35 year old DWade played 35 minutes.  I realize you gotta do what you gotta do, but Butler is averaging 41.4mpg for these playoffs and Wade is averaging 34.2mpg and they weren't taking games off towards the end of the season.  If I could rest those two a few extra minutes, because the game was lost, I'd have done it.  34mpg is a lot of minutes for a 35 year old who is also expected to play point and score.

Tom Westerholm‏Verified account
@Tom_NBA


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Literally every one of Boston’s fourth-quarter field goals were in the paint.  



GREAT game by Bradley.  Wow.  A playoff career high 24 points on 11-19, 6 rebounds and stifling defense on Butler and Wade.  As good a two way game as he has ever played.  I just wish the national media and fans around the NBA sees this.  What a stat line vs a now-perennial all-star.

Chris Forsberg‏Verified account
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From @ESPNStatsInfo: Avery Bradley vs. Jimmy Butler


Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA
yesterday
Bradley on defending Butler: Goal was to keep him off the FT line. “I thought I did a great job.” (Butler shot one FT, so absolutely.)
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IT didn't have an efficient scoring game but, once again, we saw a lot of defensive switches which had him guard Jimmy Butler one-on-one.  For a guy who is allegedly the worst defender in the NBA he's doing a pretty good job against a scoring machine.


One of the biggest games from Al Horford we've seen.  He's had some big stat games before, he has had 20+ points and 9+ assists 3x this year (vs only 1x in 9 years with the Hawks) but these are the playoffs.  He had a rep for disappearing in the playoffs, this should silence those chirpers, at least for a few minutes.  11 of his 21 points came in the 4th quarter as did 2 assists and 2 rebounds.  Lopez got some offensive rebounds that frustrated the crap out of me but overall Al outplayed him.  In fact, he's having a great playoffs, not just this game.

.......................................fg%..........3ptfg%........ft%...........pts/gm..........reb/gm...........ast/gm..........stls/gm
Regular Season---------------47.3%------35.5%-------80%--------14--------------6.8--------------5.0-------------.8
Playoffs------------------------56.1%-----50%----------90%--------16--------------9.0--------------6.4-------------1.4

He's playing about 10% more minutes, so that would explain the 10% more ppg, but every other stat is supersized/minute and that's what you are looking for in a playoff player and team leader.  When these playoffs are over I'm going to do a recap for every player like I just did for Al, but he had SUCH a good game last night I thought I'd point out that it wasn't just last night.  You cannot bulk up your numbers that much, after 5 games, with the boxscore from just one game.

Brian Robb @CelticsHub
yesterday
For the record, Horford has averaged 18-9-6 in last three wins over Bulls. He's arguably been the team MVP over that stretch.
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A VERY good game by Kelly.  I know I tend to gush over him more than a few people think he deserved but he had a game last night.  14 points on 5-9 and just overall good play.  He took an obvious charge on Butler, feet planted and took it right between the numbers, that wasn't called because he's Jimmy Freaking Butler but it was good defensive play by Kelly out 16' or so from the basket.  It isn't easy for a 7'er to take a charge on a 6'7" guard that far from the hoop, the guard usually has the speed and skills to avoid them.  He would have been 5-8 except he blew a bunny and had to steal the ball from Portis to get those 2 points.  He only got 5 rebounds but more than a few of them were in traffic.  He drove the lane and got fouled, practically wrapped up, but bullshot the ball in like he was Jared Sullinger.  Wuh?  Who did that?  In the post-game presser Kelly said that he was just thinking Happy Gilmore thoughts about that shot.




Scott Souza‏
@Scott_Souza


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Best part of #Celtics postgame was definitely Kelly Olynyk saying he channeled Happy Gilmore on three-point play.

The point where my eyes really popped open was when he was fouled by Anthony Morrow driving to the hoop, thought he was fouled overly hard (Mike Gorman said that Kelly thought he was hit in the eye) and he immediately turned and got toe-to-toe with Morrow.  Kelly Olynyk?  Going toe-to-toe with a defender and jawing with him?!  This was a big game.  We had regained home court advantage in what was then a 2-out-of-3 series.  We needed to win one, or two, at home.  We could do it the hard way and lose this game and then win the next two, with one in Chicago, or win this one and put the pressure on them to win two in a row with one more on the road and I'm looking for players who play like that.  What will Kelly do the next game?  Who knows, right?, but this BIG game he was playing with ganas.  When people on the Game On! thread are questioning why Brad was sitting Kelly and not putting him in you know he's having a game.  

Jonas, with energy.  Lousy boxscore but his energy made a difference.  2 steals in 10 minutes and some perfectly read defensive plays that prevented dunks that won't make the boxscore.

Crowder with a tough shooting night.  2-11.  8 boards, 2 blocks and helped Bradley out on Butler a lot but man was his shooting off last night.

Smart with a Smart-esque night of 3-9 shooting, but 8 assists and zero TOs.  Oh, if only he could shoot he'd be all-world.  Hell, I'd be happy if he only learned shot discipline.

Terry Rozier with a 2-6 night but man he injects energy into the game.  I'm not going to look at his playoff-to-date stats until the end of this series but my eyeballs are telling me he's a difference maker.  He stole the ball and went full court and jammed it in front of Felicio and the whole place jumped to their feet.  There's little stuff he does that don't show up in the boxscore, like defending Wade 94' up court ala Bradley.  That wears a 35 year old out.

They shot 50%, we shot 43%.  It's amazing we won and won easily in the 4th.  It's the fgas, they had an anemic 74 while we had 88.  Also fritos.  We only had a few more than them, 23 vs 17, but we hit all 23 and they only hit 14.  There's 9 points there.  I'm not happy with giving up 50%, to be honest.


Mike Gorman said that he never heard a team yell at each other as much as the Bulls yell at each other.

Sean Highkin‏Verified account
@highkin

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Wade on Butler's two FGAs in the fourth: "We put the ball in his hands a lot, so if he don't shoot, it's because he don't want to shoot."

Well, ok then...I know a marriage made in heaven when I see one.


The pressure is now on them.  I don't doubt Butler and especially Wade will rise to it but the rest of their team?  We'll see.  We, on the other hand, are finally starting to play like the team we've been watching all year after two hiccups.

Avery Bradley, on coming back from an 0-2 start:



http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400950387

























bob



.

bobheckler wrote:What a great game.  The lead, or deficit was never that big until the 4th quarter when we blew it up a bit.  

Da Bulls played great for 3 quarters but ran out of steam in the 4th, only scoring 16 points while we scored a very solid 29.  I could see Jimmy Butler getting a bit fatigued.  Hoiberg is an idiot.  The game was obviously lost, we were up 13 with only 1:39 left before he took out Butler and Wade.  At that point, thought, Butler had played 39 minutes and 35 year old DWade played 35 minutes.  I realize you gotta do what you gotta do, but Butler is averaging 41.4mpg for these playoffs and Wade is averaging 34.2mpg and they weren't taking games off towards the end of the season.  If I could rest those two a few extra minutes, because the game was lost, I'd have done it.  34mpg is a lot of minutes for a 35 year old who is also expected to play point and score.

Tom Westerholm‏Verified account
@Tom_NBA


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Literally every one of Boston’s fourth-quarter field goals were in the paint.  



GREAT game by Bradley.  Wow.  A playoff career high 24 points on 11-19, 6 rebounds and stifling defense on Butler and Wade.  As good a two way game as he has ever played.  I just wish the national media and fans around the NBA sees this.  What a stat line vs a now-perennial all-star.

Chris Forsberg‏Verified account
@ESPNForsberg


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From @ESPNStatsInfo: Avery Bradley vs. Jimmy Butler


Tom Westerholm @Tom_NBA
yesterday
Bradley on defending Butler: Goal was to keep him off the FT line. “I thought I did a great job.” (Butler shot one FT, so absolutely.)
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IT didn't have an efficient scoring game but, once again, we saw a lot of defensive switches which had him guard Jimmy Butler one-on-one.  For a guy who is allegedly the worst defender in the NBA he's doing a pretty good job against a scoring machine.


One of the biggest games from Al Horford we've seen.  He's had some big stat games before, he has had 20+ points and 9+ assists 3x this year (vs only 1x in 9 years with the Hawks) but these are the playoffs.  He had a rep for disappearing in the playoffs, this should silence those chirpers, at least for a few minutes.  11 of his 21 points came in the 4th quarter as did 2 assists and 2 rebounds.  Lopez got some offensive rebounds that frustrated the crap out of me but overall Al outplayed him.  In fact, he's having a great playoffs, not just this game.

.......................................fg%..........3ptfg%........ft%...........pts/gm..........reb/gm...........ast/gm..........stls/gm
Regular Season---------------47.3%------35.5%-------80%--------14--------------6.8--------------5.0-------------.8
Playoffs------------------------56.1%-----50%----------90%--------16--------------9.0--------------6.4-------------1.4

He's playing about 10% more minutes, so that would explain the 10% more ppg, but every other stat is supersized/minute and that's what you are looking for in a playoff player and team leader.  When these playoffs are over I'm going to do a recap for every player like I just did for Al, but he had SUCH a good game last night I thought I'd point out that it wasn't just last night.  You cannot bulk up your numbers that much, after 5 games, with the boxscore from just one game.

Brian Robb @CelticsHub
yesterday
For the record, Horford has averaged 18-9-6 in last three wins over Bulls. He's arguably been the team MVP over that stretch.
reply retweet like


A VERY good game by Kelly.  I know I tend to gush over him more than a few people think he deserved but he had a game last night.  14 points on 5-9 and just overall good play.  He took an obvious charge on Butler, feet planted and took it right between the numbers, that wasn't called because he's Jimmy Freaking Butler but it was good defensive play by Kelly out 16' or so from the basket.  It isn't easy for a 7'er to take a charge on a 6'7" guard that far from the hoop, the guard usually has the speed and skills to avoid them.  He would have been 5-8 except he blew a bunny and had to steal the ball from Portis to get those 2 points.  He only got 5 rebounds but more than a few of them were in traffic.  He drove the lane and got fouled, practically wrapped up, but bullshot the ball in like he was Jared Sullinger.  Wuh?  Who did that?  In the post-game presser Kelly said that he was just thinking Happy Gilmore thoughts about that shot.




Scott Souza‏
@Scott_Souza


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Best part of #Celtics postgame was definitely Kelly Olynyk saying he channeled Happy Gilmore on three-point play.

The point where my eyes really popped open was when he was fouled by Anthony Morrow driving to the hoop, thought he was fouled overly hard (Mike Gorman said that Kelly thought he was hit in the eye) and he immediately turned and got toe-to-toe with Morrow.  Kelly Olynyk?  Going toe-to-toe with a defender and jawing with him?!  This was a big game.  We had regained home court advantage in what was then a 2-out-of-3 series.  We needed to win one, or two, at home.  We could do it the hard way and lose this game and then win the next two, with one in Chicago, or win this one and put the pressure on them to win two in a row with one more on the road and I'm looking for players who play like that.  What will Kelly do the next game?  Who knows, right?, but this BIG game he was playing with ganas.  When people on the Game On! thread are questioning why Brad was sitting Kelly and not putting him in you know he's having a game.  

Jonas, with energy.  Lousy boxscore but his energy made a difference.  2 steals in 10 minutes and some perfectly read defensive plays that prevented dunks that won't make the boxscore.

Crowder with a tough shooting night.  2-11.  8 boards, 2 blocks and helped Bradley out on Butler a lot but man was his shooting off last night.

Smart with a Smart-esque night of 3-9 shooting, but 8 assists and zero TOs.  Oh, if only he could shoot he'd be all-world.  Hell, I'd be happy if he only learned shot discipline.

Terry Rozier with a 2-6 night but man he injects energy into the game.  I'm not going to look at his playoff-to-date stats until the end of this series but my eyeballs are telling me he's a difference maker.  He stole the ball and went full court and jammed it in front of Felicio and the whole place jumped to their feet.  There's little stuff he does that don't show up in the boxscore, like defending Wade 94' up court ala Bradley.  That wears a 35 year old out.

They shot 50%, we shot 43%.  It's amazing we won and won easily in the 4th.  It's the fgas, they had an anemic 74 while we had 88.  Also fritos.  We only had a few more than them, 23 vs 17, but we hit all 23 and they only hit 14.  There's 9 points there.  I'm not happy with giving up 50%, to be honest.


Mike Gorman said that he never heard a team yell at each other as much as the Bulls yell at each other.

Sean Highkin‏Verified account
@highkin

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Wade on Butler's two FGAs in the fourth: "We put the ball in his hands a lot, so if he don't shoot, it's because he don't want to shoot."

Well, ok then...I know a marriage made in heaven when I see one.


The pressure is now on them.  I don't doubt Butler and especially Wade will rise to it but the rest of their team?  We'll see.  We, on the other hand, are finally starting to play like the team we've been watching all year after two hiccups.

Avery Bradley, on coming back from an 0-2 start:



http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400950387

























bob



.

Great synopsis. Butler freely admitted that he lost the matchup to Avery.

https://twitter.com/CSNNE/status/857630574802030593



https://twitter.com/CSNNE/status/857424549163311104



https://twitter.com/CSNNE/status/857424337468440576



https://twitter.com/CSNNE/status/857422524727951360



bob



.

Great Bob!

112288

Think we want this series over???? I know I do, and I hope Rondo is in a purple suit tomorrow night and not his uniform.

Go figure, the guy gets traded by the Celtics because they were not going to pay him the big money, he goes to Dallas and screws up. Does a little bit of something in Sacramento, but not enough to keep him there and then goes to Chicago, where they just about sent him home too until all of a sudden they needed a body.

Now he is a superstar, hero, in his own mind, and in Chicago. Who can figure this out? Plays for the big time, sits back when he should be playing hard. I have to say, I loved what he did here, but that was because he had Pierce, Garnett, and Ray. Once they were gone, he could not have cared less. I just scratch my head, I could never root for this guy again.

Think we want this series over???? I know I do, and I hope Rondo is in a purple suit tomorrow night and not his uniform.

Go figure, the guy gets traded by the Celtics because they were not going to pay him the big money, he goes to Dallas and screws up. Does a little bit of something in Sacramento, but not enough to keep him there and then goes to Chicago, where they just about sent him home too until all of a sudden they needed a body.

Now he is a superstar, hero, in his own mind, and in Chicago. Who can figure this out? Plays for the big time, sits back when he should be playing hard. I have to say, I loved what he did here, but that was because he had Pierce, Garnett, and Ray. Once they were gone, he could not have cared less. I just scratch my head, I could never root for this guy again.

Well AB finally had a playoff game where he played both ends like we need, and at the perfect time as IT had an off game until the 13-0 run and we actually showed we could win a game without him going for 30-35. Al played an inspired 2nd half, we did to Butler, doubling him right away like what they did and teams will do to IT. Could Rondo have helped make life easier for Butler, shit yeah, he could be moving without the ball, hedging, bullying/pushing on AB and getting the ball at the precise time. If Rondo comes back his shooting has got to be even worse, as a damaged right wrist and thumb can't help. We really didn't play that well, but gutted it out, can AB give us more 20-25 point outings this playoff run? How about Crowder? is KO gonna finally play like a big or get bullied as is his nature? Until that 13-0 run, with no Rondo da Bulls were right there with us....playoffs are good for a young developing overachieving team, during this process we get to find out which players are real keepers that can play an effective role going forward.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:Think we want this series over????  I know I do, and I hope Rondo is in a purple suit tomorrow night and not his uniform.

Go figure, the guy gets traded by the Celtics because they were not going to pay him the big money, he goes to Dallas and screws up. Does a little bit of something in Sacramento, but not enough to keep him there and then goes to Chicago, where they just about sent him home too until all of a sudden they needed a body.

Now he is a superstar, hero, in his own mind, and in Chicago. Who can figure this out?  Plays for the big time, sits back when he should be playing hard.  I have to say, I loved what he did here, but that was because he had Pierce, Garnett, and Ray.  Once they were gone, he could not have cared less. I just scratch my head, I could never root for this guy again.  

we all know he played with Ray, Paul and KG, whats your point? I don't think anyone is saying that team was all Rondo, that team was in all senses a team that played together like a team. They also had an anti Kelly role player at center, who had very limited offense, but was also needed, as that starting 5 never lost a playoff series.

I am saying that he is not the super max player he thinks or thought he was. If he played without those guys, do you really think he would have been regarded as highly. That is my point.

I thinks its a cold world, if any player can get as much as their worth or more, more power to them. Rondo was not a lottery pick, for where he was drafted, we got great value....look how many players did nothing and were drafted way higher than him. Young Rondo to me was more like Jason Kidd who also couldn't shoot early in his career, but could be an energizer bunny that you just throw him the ball and he'll take care of your team.

Hi,
Rondo, Rondo, Rondo...
No other player, IMO, generates so much discussion. If you remember old BDC forum - so many virtual battles fought around him. Now he's on another team and not even playing but still in the center of discussion.

AK