Optimistic View on the Celtics Situation
The Celtics are down 2-0, and it’s a tough day to be a fan of the team. There’s always a bright side though.
The Boston Celtics dropped their second straight home playoff game to the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday. Boston now finds itself down two games to none going into a pair of road games in Chicago. This was probably the worst possible scenario for the Celtics this postseason, and it’s hard to find any positives from the way they have played so far.
That doesn’t mean we’ll try to find some. It isn’t fun to be negative. Some things are certainly bad, with no way of spinning it differently. Boston has played terribly the first two games of this series. They could not have played worse in my opinion. Nothing has worked on the offensive end, and there is no evidence of an effective defense.
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The Bulls have also played their best basketball of the season. Rajon Rondo looks like his Boston self, Robin Lopez has been unstoppable, and the Bulls bench has had a new hero each game. Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade, the two main concerns on the Bulls roster, have had an easy time doing whatever they want thanks to their supporting cast playing at such a high level.
So that’s the problem this series. The Celtics couldn’t be playing worse, and the Bulls couldn’t be playing better. But this is where the optimistic view comes into play. The bright side of this entire series is that the Celtics can only go up from where they are, and the Bulls can only come down. The way each team is playing respectively is quite unbelievable, which explains why everyone is shocked at this development.
It is possible that nothing changes. The death of Chyna Thomas might have had too much of an impact on the team as a whole, Chicago’s experience and strengths in the Celtics’ areas of weakness could do Boston in for good. The reason I believe that the Celtics can turn it around is because they truly are the better team. It’s the only reason that the first two games of the series have been relatively close.
If Boston went in a two game hole against Cleveland, I would have my worries about getting at least one win in the series. But against Chicago, Boston just needs to be better. They have to dig deep, and come together to get out of this nightmare of a match up.
Next: Celtics Have to Start with Defense
The Celtics certainly outperformed expectations in the regular season. Losing in the first round against an inferior team would cause a lot of unnecessary drama and negative attention. Getting to the eastern conference finals was a realistic goal for this team, and I doubt they’re going to let the Bulls take that away from them.