Written by Matt Moore at CBSSports.com
On an emotional Sunday night in Boston, a basketball truth hit the Celtics in the face like a splash of cold water. The Chicago Bulls left TD Garden with a Game 1 victory, 106-102. In handing Boston the loss, Chicago revealed much about the Celtics’ playoff formula and the challenges they will face, even in this first round.
The big story was Isaiah Thomas, and rightfully so. Thomas played less than a day after finding out his sister had died in a car accident Saturday at the age of 22. He was emotional before the game and still brought his usual energy for the Celtics, scoring 13 in the first quarter, including this deep triple, on his way to a heroic 33 points. That’s the big story.
The smaller story is the Celtics’ playoff formula showed flaws. This has been the concern with Boston the whole season, that their regular-season formula of playing hard and together and relying heavily on Thomas wouldn’t translate to postseason success.
Here’s what that formula looked like vs. Chicago:
- Superior effort. Boston is a try-hard team that puts maximum effort into every possession. The problem is that in the playoffs, both teams try hard. The Bulls had more deflections, more loose balls collected, and crushed Boston on the glass. (We’ll come back to this.)
- Isaiah Thomas is an elite scoring guard and can get his on anyone. This one bore out with Thomas’ 33 points, 12 in the fourth quarter. However, late in the game, on a key sequence, the 5-foot-9 Thomas was blocked by Butler. It’s just one play, and overall, Thomas finished over everyone, but it is a worrisome sign and a reminder that Thomas, though clearly magnificent, is not someone who can score at will in any situation. Height and length do matter, even if he makes it seem like they don’t.
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