In a rematch of last year’s most exciting playoff series, the slumping Bulls met the surging Celtics. Two teams with two completely different stories this season.
The Celtics crushed the Bulls behind another stellar performance by Rajon Rondo: 106-80
Until now, I’ve been reluctant to call the Celtics ‘the Green Machine’ this season. They haven’t been consistently dominant enough, long enough, for that moniker. It may be time to dub them the Verde Machine once again.
Bull’s head sophomore coachVinny Del Negro is fighting for his job, while the Celtics are fighting their way toward another Finals series. The Celtics came in with a 9 game winning streak, while the Bulls are in a 2-10 downward spiral.
Absorbing injury to Tyrus Thomas, and the loss of Ben Gordon to free agency have been more than the Bulls could handle. John Salmons, (nor anyone else) has been able to replace Gordon’s big time 4th quarter shooting.
Because I didn’t see the game nor was I able to record it, I bring you the following recap from Celticsblog.com’s own Green 17…
Rajon Rondo came into Chicago tonight and gored the Bulls. He did it with passing, defense, boards, oh and a few buckets of his own. If there is any doubt, Rondo officially owns the Bulls. Brad Miller tried to even some scores from last year with a horse-collar tackle on Rajon early on, earning Bradley a flagrant foul. Surely he would be happy taking the flagrant if it was traded for intimidating Rajon. Well just a few moments later, there goes Rondo on the break with only Miller back. What does RR do? He aggressively pushed it into Miller, drew the contact, made the bucket, and sent Sad Brad to the bench with his second foul. It turned out that Rajon sent the early message tonight (i.e. I’m not intimidated), and then backed it up by destroying the Bulls in the third quarter.
I pasted the box score after the jump because it is a thing of beauty. Balanced scoring! All starters not named Rajon played fewer than 30 minutes! Everyone was a + tonight, even Tony!
And here’s Celtic Town’s thoughts….
The Boston Celtics defeated the Bulls in Chicago, breaking the game open in the second half with a 13-2 run in the 3rd Quarter on their way to their 10th consecutive win, 106-80.
Rajon Rondo continued his stellar play of late, netting 16 points, 14 assists, and 7 rebounds. On a night that the starters rested much of the 4th Quarter, Eddie House fired his way to 15 points, on 5-15 shooting, while Rasheed Wallace added 15 points and 5 rebounds.
KG grabbed his 4th double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Ray Allen (10 pts), Paul Pierce (14 pts), and Kendrick Perkins (10 pts) also reached double figures.
Brad Miller repayed Rajon Rondo for that hard playoff foul last season, raking Rondo across the neck, and dragging him to the floor for a flagrant foul. Brad Miller has officially become the white guy in the NBA it’s so easy to hate.
With age, he has lost his athletic ability and degenerated into a player who grabs, pulls, tricks, and sneers his way to whatever success he has on the court. Celtics announcer Tommy Heinsohn practically had to be restrained from going over the table after Miller. I’m exagerrating. A little bit.
