Despite receiving a tenacious and inspiring effort from Isaiah Thomas, Boston couldn’t do enough to beat the Bulls in Game 1
Right before the Boston Celtics‘ first-round playoff series opener against the Chicago Bulls Sunday, point guard Isaiah Thomas had teary red eyes, a dreary expression and the overall look of a broken heart.
The two-time All-Star was minutes away from playing his first game since his sister, Chyna Thomas, tragically died in a car accident just the night before, and he looked absolutely miserable. The tragedy had quite an impact on Thomas, which was reportedly overwhelming enough to bring his availability for the game into question.
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Yet, there he stood in pregame introductions, ready for game action and most likely thinking about how he’d be able to perform up to par with such a heavy heart.
But that heavy heart didn’t slow him down one bit.
Thomas locked in to score a game-high 33 points on 10-of-18 shooting, propelling Boston to a near victory in the team’s first playoff game as the No. 1 seed since 2008. Five of those points came in a late rally attempt in the final minute of the game, but the Celtics ultimately lost 106-102 as Boston’s lineup failed to fully complement the emotional effort.
“He’s incredible. I don’t know how else to say it,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said of Thomas on Comcast Sports New England’s Postgame Live show. “It was a tough day, and there will continue to be tough days. … He’s an amazing, amazing player, an amazing person.”
Thomas looked surprisingly as focused as usual throughout the entire game, especially when he gave Boston a good chance to win late in the fourth quarter. As great as he performed though, his effort wasn’t enough to get the win for the Celtics.
Trailing 87-85 with 5:33 left in the game and 21 points already on his belt, Thomas helped Boston keep up with the scalding hot Bulls by scoring seven points over the next two minutes. An unfortunate series of turnovers, bad shots and poor defense over the following three minutes had the Celtics down seven with only 14 seconds to go, but he gave the team new life with a quick 3-pointer to cut the deficit to a 104-100 score.
Avery Bradley forced a Chicago turnover on the very next play, and Thomas answered with a layup seven seconds later to make it 104-102. That rally wound up fizzling out – to no fault of Thomas’ efforts – though, as a couple of Jimmy Butler free throws allowed the Bulls to take a 1-0 series lead and strip the Celtics of their home-court advantage (for now).
In the end, the emotions leading up to this one game proved too much for the team to overcome.
“We’re never going to make excuses, but this is hard,” Al Horford said, via ESPN.com. “This was difficult, and I felt like our guys really dealt with it best. We knew (Thomas) was hurting…we have a lot of respect for him that he was able to come out.”
While Butler led Chicago in scoring with 30 points, it was the performances of the Bulls’ big men and the team’s rebounding that lifted them over the Celtics.
It seemed that every time Boston would come up with a defensive stop, Chicago would come up with an offensive rebound and a put-back bucket. The Bulls had nearly as many offensive rebounds (20) as the Celtics had defensive rebounds (24), which led to a whopping 23 second-chance points.
Much of that was aided by Chicago center Robin Lopez, who had eight offensive boards and eight second-chance points. He finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Such rebounding woes have been a reoccurring issue for the Celtics and is something Bradley believes was a main factor in the Game 1 loss Sunday.
“If we’re able to fix that, I feel like it’s a different outcome tonight,” he said on CSNNE’s Postgame Live show.
Outside Lopez’s rebounding, the Bulls were also paced by the impressive scoring display from reserve Bobby Portis. Neither of Boston’s units could stop the big man, as he posted 19 points off 8-of-10 shooting (3-of-4 from beyond the arc) in 29 minutes off the bench. He tied Thomas for the game’s highest plus-minus mark (plus-12).
Also factor in Rajon Rondo‘s 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists into the decision. Add Dwayne Wade’s 11 points. Make sure to also include the Bulls’ 10 steals, as well as their seven blocks.
This was a tough performance for any Eastern Conference team to go up against, especially one that has to endure the pain its best player is going through. Yet, Thomas still posted his usual jaw-dropping numbers for a 5-foot-9 point guard.
Next: Isaiah Thomas' Performance was Truly Inspiring
The rest of the team should be able to fit the bill of beating an eighth-seeded team. If it doesn’t, we’ll probably see a lot more dreary expressions from Thomas come game time that extend beyond his heavy heart.