After losing the first two games of their NBA Playoffs series against the Bulls under tragic circumstances, the Boston Celtics rolled off four straight wins to knock out the Chicago Bulls and move on to the second round with a 105-83 win.
“It’s a wrap for these mother (bleepers)!” Isaiah Thomas screamed to his teammates in the middle of the third quarter. There was plenty of game left, but the Celtics were cruising past a 25-point lead and the Bulls had clearly thrown in the towel.
The Boston Celtics took the word elimination game all too seriously Friday night, absolutely eviscerating the Chicago Bulls 105-83 In Game 6 to complete a four-game comeback and win their first round series.
The Celtics will host the Washington Wizards in Game 1 Sunday at 1 PM ET.
Avery Bradley had another dominant performance to follow up his Game 5, tying Jimmy Butler for a game-high 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting (3-for-4 from deep). The Celtics finally had the efficient shooting performance they had been seeking all season, going 16-for-39 from deep (41%) with 28 assists to the Bulls’ 13. Of all people, Isaiah Thomas was the only person with a poor shooting night, going 1-for-7 from deep to follow up his 1-for-10 performance in the previous game.
The Celtics transcended the need for Thomas’ efficiency in this series, as they finally figured out how to expose the Bulls’ defense and run circles around them. Once their deep shooting started to kick in, the usual talent gap between a one and eight seed finally emerged.
Al Horford had a near-perfect performance, hitting all five of his field goal attempts and dishing out a game-high seven assists in just 27 minutes. The Celtics have reignited the offensive system they perfected throughout the season, using Thomas as the engine and Horford as the conduit for redistribution. It demoralize the Bulls throughout the past few games and ended them Friday night.
As Dwyane Wade and Butler both limped into the offseason, dealing with a series of injuries, Boston finally discovered their full strength identity. They threw the Bulls in their grave early on and spent most of the evening piling on the dirt.