The Boston Celtics took a 3-2 series lead over the Chicago Bulls in a 108-97 victory in Game 5 Wednesday night at the TD Garden. Avery Bradley led the charge (24 pts, 6 reb), and are just one game away from winning there first playoff series under Head Coach Brad Stevens.
Wednesday night’s victory was easily the most important game of the year, saying that I know that this is not what the Celtics were looking for. A one-seeded team is likely looking for a sweep or a 5-game series in the first round (Warriors, Cavs to name a few), having to come back from 0-2 to an 8-seed in a underachieving Bulls team shows that this Celtics team is truly vulnerable.
The chances they had to give up on this series after dropping the first two at home, the amount of people counting them out (including Celtics faithful) was endless. Tearing up three games in a row despite it being against a team like the Chicago Bulls who have struggled heavily this year; tells me that this team can handle the adversity, they can go into someone else’s building with there backs against the wall and steal home-court back from under another opponent. A wise man once told me, every team goes through something during a season that defines that group of individuals of who they really are. This series if the Celtics can take care of business and gather that 4th win either Friday or Sunday could be a step in the right direction going forward.
Horford’s Here
The resurgence of Celtics C Al Horford has really taken full stage here in the first round of the postseason. The first year Celtic is averaging 16.0 ppg, 9.0 rpg, along with 6.4 apg, and has made a big impact in the paint to get the green back in this series. I must say, I for one am someone who thought the Celtics paid too much for the 9-year veteran (4 yr/ 113 mil), and even with the playoff I push I stand corrected.
When asked about stepping up big in Wednesday nights Game 5 Horford replied that “It was great,”. “I took advantage. I made sure I gathered myself and it was awesome, I feel like it was a big lift for us.”
As convincing as Horford’s play has been in this opening series, this is not why Danny Ainge and the C’s signed him in the offseason. I’m not counting my “chickens before they hatch”, but the goal for this team since day one is to reach the Eastern Conference Finals to face King James and his entourage. The Celtics won’t get there without big play from Horford in the rest of this series and hopefully in the next round.
I mean lets face it, the best big man the Bulls have had this series in F Robin Lopez who at points looked like a stud due to the lack of Celtics rebounding. When Horford squares up with a big man like Dwight Howard or Marcin Gortat in the next round the big question will be if he can answer the bell.
Backcourt Back on the Map?
You know what your going to get out of Celtics G Isaiah Thomas (29.1 PPG in regular season), with his miraculous layups, assassin-like shooting, and his sensational offensive performances in the 4th quarter. But at this point of the season, I’m ready to crown Celtics G Avery Bradley as the best overall player on the team.
Wednesday night, Bradley straight up assaulted Chicago Bulls “superstar?” in G Jimmy Butler. Bradley went for a career postseason high 24 points in Game 6, all while chasing Butler for much of the night. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Butler finished with just two points on 1-of-5 shooting with one turnover when defended by Bradley (Bradley, meanwhile, scored 11 points on 5-of-10 shooting with Butler defending).
Butler even admitted after Game 5 that Bradley had won the head-to-head battle.”I’m trying to make it hard on him,” Bradley said. “Like I said, Butler’s a very good player. And my job for our team is to go out there and defend, try not to foul and make the player work for every shot, make him work on both ends of the floor. And that’s what I tried to do tonight.”
Personally, I think Bradley is the most underrated player on the Celtics roster and if somehow they trade him elsewhere at some point, that it would be a big blow to there chemistry.
On another note, seeing Jimmy Butler (14 pts 6-15 fg) fail that bad in a high-pressure game like Wednesday night on both sides of the floor makes me want to get any offseason talk of Butler being traded to the Celtics out of my head (listen Danny Ainge). He’s definitely an all-star, but is he that guy who can win you a playoff series? Only time will tell.
Giving Credit Where Credits Due
Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens had a big decision to make going into Game 3, where he pulled the trigger. After F Amir Johnson has been the starting power forward for basically the whole season, Stevens made a decision to start a smaller group and made a bold move by sitting Johnson and starting veteran forward Gerald Green.
Green has been electrifying since taking over the starting role, the Celtics are 3-0 when he starts so that’s the bigger picture you need to see. He really sparked them in Game 4, scoring 18 pts with his perimeter shooting in just over 23 minutes.
The 9-year veteran has had a chip on his shoulder his own career, Green was DNP’d 29 times this season. Since when have you ever heard of a player being told by his coach that he wasn’t going to play in 29!! games and then one day the coach comes to his senses and says “Oh, maybe this guy could do something for us”. I’m a big Gerald Green guy, his athleticism and experience can really help this team going forward, and I for one believe that it was about time that they got “lazy” Amir Johnson off the court.
Realistic Expectations
I full out expect the Celtics to wrap up this series at the United Center in Chicago Friday night in Game 6. It all started to unwind when Bulls G Rajon Rondo went down with a finger injury after Game 2, but if some way he is able to play Friday night I still fully expect all this momentum the Celtics have to drive them past the Bulls and get ready for the 2nd round of the playoffs by Saturday morning.
The Bulls are a team who can scare you, but no one gives the Celtics enough credit about how much they’ve shut down there big players in Butler and even G Dwayne Wade. The Celtics are playing the “underdog” role as a one seed, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I hate talking about the second round of the playoffs because as I said “I don’t like to count my chickens before they hatch”. But the Celtics will be an underdog regardless of who they play (Hawks, Wizards).
Personally, if the Wizards take their series against the Atlanta Hawks Friday night I full on expect the Celtics to win that series. The Wizards have been a terrible road team all season and with the Celtics having home-court advantage a good start could be all it takes for the green to get by the next round and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals.
That’s all I’ll touch on the future series of the playoffs, but when the Celtics wrap this first round series up, you’ll see me right back here for a 2nd round playoff matchup preview. God Bless.
Celtics in 6.
The Beantown Throwdown 