The Celtics even everything up: 3 takeaways

The Boston Celtics have tied their series with the Chicago Bulls at 2-2.

The Celtics completed a 2-0 sweep in Chicago with a 104-95 win tonight. Chicago didn’t quite have the right pieces tonight to get the win on their home court. Isaiah Thomas and Jimmy Butler were both Superman for their respective teams and there was one surprising player for the Celtics tonight.

Here are the three takeaways for tonight.

Takeaways

The Bulls found their replacement: Jerian Grant started the game at point guard for the Chicago Bulls tonight, but he only played about five minutes. Instead, the Bulls rolled with Isaiah Canaan, who provided the spark that the Bulls were missing.

He had 13 points and three assists, but the numbers don’t show the value that he provided tonight while he was on the floor. He was a +11 when he was on the floor tonight, which was higher than any other Bulls player. He shot 42.9 percent from beyond the arc and was absolutely crucial to the Bulls almost victory.

Fred Hoiberg is lucky to have found Canaan right now, or else the Bulls might have had to wave the white flag for the rest of the series.

Jimmy Buckets: Jimmy Butler went to the free line 23 times in Game 4. That is not a typo. Take that for data. It’s ridiculous that Butler was at the line 23 times Sunday night. Canaan only had four attempts tonight and that was the second highest on the team. Those 23 attempts for Butler show that he was being aggressive, which is exactly what the Bulls need. With the absence of Rondo attacking the big men in the paint, Bulter had to step up and he did.

Butler also had a playoff career-high in assists tonight, dishing out nine. He was getting his teammates involved and made sure they got their fair share of buckets. Even though he was sharing the ball, he wasn’t afraid to take his fair share of shots either. He scored 33 points, 15 of which were in the third quarter. He took the game over for the Bulls but, unfortunately, couldn’t will them to a victory.

Gerald Green did what? Not only did Gerald Green start again, but he was a contributing factor to the Celtics’ victory. He had 18 points and seven rebounds in his second start of this series. He played 22 minutes tonight and deserved every second.

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Besides Green, the Celtics role players as a whole have stepped up their offensive game. Isaiah Thomas did have 33 points tonight, but he didn’t have to carry all of the offensive load like he has had to do in previous matchups. Boston’s role players need to continue their recent play if they want to pull out from this series with a win.