After a harrowing start to their opening round series the Boston Celtics won four straight games to advance to the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs. The Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls in game 6 Friday night 105-83 to advance.
The Celtics scored nine of the game first 11 points and never trailed in the game. The Bulls worked the deficit down to four points at 10-6, but then the Celtics wet out and took their first double digit lead of the game at 21-11 with 5:37 left in the quarter. The double digit lead didn’t last long and the Bulls actually cut it to five with 1:20 left in the quarter. The Celtics where able to add a couple of pints to their lead and take a 30-23 lead into the 2nd quarter.
The Celtics went right back to their double digit lead early in the 2nd quarter with a 12 to 2 run. The Bulls did manage to knock the lead under 10 points at 42-33 with 5:50 left in the quarter, but the Celtics pushed the lead right back into double digits and built a 13 point lead going into halftime with a 54-41 lead.
The 3rd quarter is where the Celtics really put the game away. Boston outscored Chicago by 16 points in the quarter 34-18. The Bulls never got closer than the 13 points down they where starting the quarter and at one point found themselves down by 30 points. When Kelly Olynyk hit a 11-foot jumper with :03 seconds left in the quarter it gave the Celtics a 29 point lead at 88-59 heading into the final quarter.
With the outcome of the game pretty much decided heading into the 4th quarter both teams emptied their benches. The 4th quarter actually turned out to be the Bulls highest scoring quarter of the game as they out up 24 points in it. Boston ended up having the lowest scoring output by either team in their 4th quarter with 17 points, but knocking seven points off of the lead didn’t really mean a whole lot as the Celtics ended up with a 22 point victory 105-83.
Avery Bradley led the Celtics in scoring and tied for game high scoring honors with 23 points. Gerald Green added 16 points while Isaiah Thomas, Al Horford and Jae Crowder each scored 12 points as all of the Celtics starters scored in double figures. Horford also handed out a game high 7 assists and along with Kelly Olynyk led the team in rebounding as they each grabbed 6 rebounds.
Only two Bulls players reached double figures in scoring. jimmy Butler tied for the games top scoring honors with 23 points and Robin Lopez added 10 points. Bobby Portis grabbed a game high 11 rebounds while Dwayne Wade handed out a team high 3 assists.
The Celtics advance into the 2nd round and they’ll start that round on Sunday as they host the Washington Wizards. The Wizards also advanced into the 2nd round with a six game series win over the Atlanta Hawks.
As for the Bulls; well their 2017 season has come to an end and so have my recaps of their games. See you next season.
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