Bulls Confidential Countdown: Chicago at Boston Game 2
Can the Bulls continue to shock the basketball world?
The Chicago Bulls are back at it tonight in Boston for Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs.
broke down Game 1, so if you missed his recap be sure to check it out!Game Information:
Chicago Bulls (1–0) vs. Boston Celtics (0–1) — 7:00PM CDT — TNT
Projected Starters:
Chicago Bulls:
Rajon Rondo, PG
Dwyane Wade, SG
Jimmy Butler, SF
Nikola Mirotic, PF
Robin Lopez, C
Boston Celtics:
Isaiah Thomas, PG
Avery Bradley, SG
Jae Crowder, SF
Amir Johnson, PF
Al Horford, C
Three Keys:
- The 3 Alphas:
Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade, and Rajon Rondo.
While Dwyane Wade struggled in Game 1 (4-of-12), the other two Bulls stars pitched in their fair share. The Bulls will need Jimmy Butler to feed off of his heroics from Game 1 in order to head back to Chicago with a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Rajon Rondo will also need to follow his Game 1 performance (12/7/6) and take it to the shorter Isaiah Thomas on defense.
2. Nikola Mirotic:
Although the Bulls pulled off the upset with a 106–102 victory, Mirotic was abysmal, shooting 1-of-9 from the floor. Boston will re-group from Game 1, so the Bulls will need the sharpshooter to be a much bigger contributor in Game 2. While Bobby Portis filled in the scoring void for Mirotic, the Bulls should not count on the second year man to bail them out every night. Niko needs to play better in order to win Game 2.
3. Bench Play:
This is the playoffs — rotations are shorter, so the reserves who actually get minutes need to contribute at a high level. In Game 1, we saw Bobby Portis shoot 80 percent from the floor (19 points) while grabbing nine rebounds. That is likely not going to happen again as Boston will make adjustments, so the Bulls will need Felicio, Grant and Zipser to step it up. The Bulls outscored Boston 35–22 in bench points in Game 1 and will have to do exactly the same in order to win again.
Outlook:
As Rajon Rondo said, this was just one game, and this series is far from over. After a home loss in Game 1, Boston will come out strong with something to prove in order to steal back home court advantage. If the Bulls perform behind Jimmy Butler, then they should have a great chance to head back to Chicago up 2–0.
Prediction: Bulls
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