Good Riddance
The Celtics finally put away the Chicago Bulls in Game 7, 109-99. The reason? Eddie House (16 pts, 4-4 3FG, 3 steals) and the bench showed up.
After a fantastic 2nd quarter, I thought this was going to be an easy night. Not the case. Rather than put their foot down on the Bulls throat in the 3rd quarter, the Celtics gave up 33 points in the quarter and let Chicago shave 7 points off the lead. The Bulls got as close as 4 in the 4th but the C's held on.
Let's revisit that 2nd quarter: The C's surged ahead to a 14 point halftime lead thanks to a 22-2 run. Scal (8 pts) and Eddie were banging 3s. Even Mikki Moore (4 pts, one charge) got into the act.
Despite my prayers that Ben Gordon (33 pts despite 7-23 FG) would be the goat, those horns were worn by John Salmons who shot just 3-for-12.
Perk's shoulder better be ok. I can't take watching Mikki Moore and Scalabrine trying to guard Dwight Howard.
The refs were atrocious. From the Hinrich trips-over-his-feet call on Pierce, to the technical foul on Eddie House after he got an earful from the Bulls bench to the technical foul on Perkins after he did absolutely nothing but grab his shoulder after getting hammered by Brad Miller - they were awful.
Game 1 | with the Magic is Monday at 8pm.
Tony Allen allegedly got into an argument with the Globe's Marc Spears. Click here to read Scott Souza's take on the situation.