3 Best first round playoff scenarios for the Boston Celtics

Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are two games up on the Atlanta Hawks right now, but with the Eastern Conference having weak teams near the bottom, that doesn’t say much. The Bulls maybe should have traded away their assets at the deadline but instead chose to hang on to them. This means they’re still competing for a playoff spot despite having Zach LaVine, and, more recently, Patrick Williams out for the remainder of the season.

Much like the potential Hawks series, Chicago would simply be outmatched talent wise. Defensively, they don’t have answers for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown; then you add in Kristaps Porziņģis and the capabilities of Holiday and White. The best defensive player on the Bulls is Alex Caruso, and he can’t guard everyone all at once. Porziņģis and Horford can pull Nikola Vucevic out of the key, where he already struggles, and put him in a worse position on the perimeter.

Alternatively, the Celtics have multiple answers for the Bulls' offense. Vucevic is a talented offensive big, but the Cs would feel comfortable with Porziņģis, Al Horford, or Xavier Tillman guarding him. Holiday has even been tasked with Joel Embiid, so handling Vucevic is within the realm of possibilities for him. Colby White is, deservingly, a lock to win the Most Improved Player Award, but the Celtics just have answers for him defensively.

DeMar DeRozan is another player who can cause issues for plenty of teams. But again, Boston has too many versatile options on defense that would make it too difficult for DeRozen to take over a series. The Bulls already have a hard time scoring, as they average the sixth-fewest points per game. Things would not get easier for them against one of the top defensive teams in the Celtics.