Tip Of The Hat To Bulls & Their Fans

That was one awesome series. And I enjoyed blogging with you and the other guys at CeltisBlog as well. It was a nice change to banter with “the enemy”. But just like a good fight in the ring, it’s time to hug and say “good fight, man, good fight. You deserved it.”

Celtics always were the better of the two teams, and they earned their win. Great job, and go get the Magic. Any real Chicago basketball fan knows that it is the teams that play defense and make adjustments from game to game that deserve to win in the playoffs.

What a blessing this series has been for the Bulls! If Rose is not motivated by what Rondo did to him, he is not the competitor we think he is. Noah played with surprising consistency and showed that he could be a guy who plays 30min a game on a good team. And we received further confirmation that Gordon, Thomas, Salmons, Miller, and Hinrich were more or less who we thought they were – for better and for worse. And, of course, we were treated to a seven-game festival of coaching ineptitude – sorry, Vinny, it’s not your fault that your were hired for this job.

Here’s hope that Bulls and Celtics meet in the playoffs again next year – with a healthy KG back to his Hall-of-Fame best, and an improved Bulls roster guided by a competent coach.

It was a fun series; good luck in the second round.

I think the commentators who talked about parity in this series hit it right on the head. With Garnett, the Celtics are a great team, but without Garnett, the Celtics are an average team with great heart. The Bulls meantime were an above-average team talent-wise with below average coaching and, in the case of Tyrus Thomas, below-average focus. I believe that this series would have been won by the Bulls if we didn’t spot the Celtics a head coach. This ended up being a head start provided to the Celtics that the Bulls ultimately could not overcome. Can you imagine what a competent coach could have done with the shooters and athletes on the Bulls team?

The questions regarding Rondo are serious ones to Bulls fans. Let me be clear: I don’t buy conspiracy theories. And I don’t think Rondo is evil incarnate or anything; he’s just a good player who did whatever he felt it took to win, and whose emotions got the better of him. But I also genuinely felt the league was blatantly incorrect to let a lot of that stuff go, particularly the closed-fisted strike on Miller’s head. Tossing Hinrich into the scorer’s table was also excessive.

It seems like Boston fans say things like, “It wasn’t called a flagrant, so it wasn’t flagrant” or “He intended to make a play on the ball” or “It doesn’t matter what actually happened. Let’s all just move on.” And all of these are valid points.

As a Bulls fan, I’ll readily acknowledge that the Bulls lost this series with their piss-poor play in games 3 and 7, and NOT because the refs did them wrong. But at the same time, it’s very, very easy to look at Rondo’s actions and clearly assess the refs’ calls as just completely off.

That said, he’s a great, young PG and I hope that someday Rose can average a triple double through 5 crucial playoff games, and can rack up assists like Rondo did.

Also, since it seems I’m talking to a Celtics fan with a very reasonable temperament, I’ll just mention: I loved Kevin Garnett until he won his first championship. At that point, he became an unsufferable prick. I realize his trashmouth is how he keeps his team going, but he’s really annoying, and I can’t wait until he gets his nice, tall glass of shut-the-hell-up.

But then again, people used to say how annoying Rodman later with Nocioni were, and now say the same with Noah, although none of those guys came close to the skill level of Garnett.

Overall, the Celts won it with more heart and better coaching, but as they said, they still had to hit the tough shots and make the tough plays, and they certainly did that. Thanks for reaching out in this extremely classy post, and thanks for listening to me drone on.

count me as cosigning Jeff’s sentiment.

-sw

posts by you and Steve during the series.

As one who posted in both Boston and Chicago forums, I appreciated the civility and frendly overtures from you guys toward us.
 
It’s good to know we can be passionate and keep our perspective. Ciao, ’til next time.

This series had elation mixed with despair so many times it was the elixir to induce Manic-Depressive illness. I also posted on CelticsBlog and found the fans rapid, hospitable and extremely knowlegeable. This series will always unite Celtic and Bulls fans. Your comments are appreciated. My concern about the future is that two years ago I thought we were on the rise only to experience a precipitous fall. Good luck against Orlando!

Usually when my team gets booted from the playoffs I really dislike them. Sometimes for several years to come, sometimes forever.

But after this grueling series I can’t help but think I know the Celts a whole lot better now after watching them so much against my team that I may just root for them -
I’d rather see them contend in the Finals instead of the Cavs or Magic, that’s for sure.
Cheers…

Rajon Rondo is uglier than 10 Noahs.

A week ago the majority of this site wanted Rondo’s head on a platter and now you all have your tails between your legs because we lost and this guy came on to say it was a nice series. I do NOT want the Celtics to move on to play the Cavs in the finals. I want them to get swept next round and Rondo get suspended for at least 2 games because that’s what he’s owed.

Don’t get me wrong, it is a nice gesture to come on here and leave a post like this because it was the best series I’ve ever seen…Bulls series at least but don’t be fake and act like you are rooting for the Celtics now. I’m not.

The players are dirty—a bunch of floppers and foulers. Rondo is learning that long-time Celtics tradition well, same with Big Baby. That fat ass fell down 15 times a game, sometimes without any contact. I’ve never seen a guy on the bench (KG) talk so much trash during a game before. Totally classless. Pierce was a whiny, underacheiving loser before last year, then he gets two HOFers and suddenly he cares about winning more than anything?

I have disliked this franchise forever. They think they are entitled to special treatment because of their history, but they were coming off of 20 years of irrelevance before stealing KG from a former Celtic. They have always had dirty players on the team. And Bulls fans should not forget we got David Greenwood instead of Larry Bird thanks to some shady Celtics maneuvering the year before.

I’d rather see the Cavs and Magic in the Finals, at least they will have earned it. Hopefully Boston’s drift back towards irrelevance starts with KG’s knees and the rest of the league won’t rescue them again.

never win.

Unless Stern and Company let them.