Bulls stun Celtics with Game 1 upset: 3 takeaways

The Chicago Bulls have began their first round series with a stunner, beating the Boston Celtics 106-102.

The Bulls defeated the Celtics 106-102 on the road in Game 1. No one expected the Bulls to win this game tonight, but despite the odds, they came out on top. Chicago looked like they had full control over this game, until the final moments when Isaiah Thomas hit a 3-pointer to put the Celtics behind by only two points. But in Chicago made the plays they needed down the stretch.

Takeaways

The Celtics need to rebound. The Bulls are one of the best rebounding teams in the league and that showed tonight, out-rebounding the Celtics 53-36. Even more impressive was that the Bulls snagged 20 offensive rebounds to the Celtics 12. Those offensive rebounds led to too many second-chance opportunities for the Bulls. Robin Lopez was a terror to the Celtics tonight; finishing with 11 rebounds and 14 points. Al Horford could not hang with Lopez in the paint. Kelly Olynyk didn’t offer much resistance either.

The Celtics have had a problem with rebounds all season long and neglected that problem when opportunities presented themselves to address it at the trade deadline or through a veteran buyout. They decided to sit tight and ride out the season. The Celtics may have been able to coast in the regular season without having to rebound, but in the playoffs, rebounds are vital to a team’s success. Especially against the Bulls.

Fred Hoiberg doesn’t quite trust Rajon Rondo. Rondo started the game for the Bulls tonight, but he didn’t play in crunch time. Instead, Jerian Grant played in the final minutes that mattered. Even though Rondo had the better game tonight, Hoiberg decided to go with Grant down the stretch. Rondo has had troubles with his head coaches in the past and had issues with Hoiberg earlier in the season. He was benched for a good portion of the regular season.

Playoff Rondo is different than regular Rondo. Playoff Rondo scores a productive 12 points, hustles on offense, and tries his best on defense. Playoff Rondo has experience. Grant has no playoff experience and still makes risky plays. Rondo knows what it means to produce when the time matters. Just becaus it worked out this time, doesn’t mean Grant over Rondo in key moments is the right recipe for the future.

The Bulls may have a problem at the power forward position. Chicago started with Nikola Mirotic at power forward. He only played 19 minutes tonight because he could not hit anything. Mirotic had a measly four points and four rebounds and went 1-of-9 from the field. He has had problems being a consistent scorer for the Bulls and that showed tonight.

So, Hoiberg had to go with his second option — Bobby Portis, who usually comes off of the bench and has been inconsistent too. Tonight, he played well totaling 19 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. He shot 80 percent from the floor and 75 percent on 3-pointers. Portis was on fire tonight and was the polar opposite of his counterpart, Mirotic. The problem is that Mirotic’s bad performance was more in character than Portis’. The Bulls need Mirotic to be better because they can’t realistically count of Portis to play this well throughout the series.

This series may go as far as seven games, or it could be stopped short as five. Brad Stevens and his team will have some hard thinking to do after tonight’s loss. The Bulls should be celebrating like there is no tomorrow because they did the impossible, win in the TD Garden.

Next: NBA Playoffs 2017: 5 keys to Celtics vs. Bulls matchup

Their next game is on Tuesday, April 18 at 8:00 p.m. EST Trust me, you won’t want to miss it.