Thoughts from the morning after…
- Somebody finally won a home game.
- The Cs made all 23 of their free throws, a franchise playoff record.
- On the other hand, Boston won in spite of shooting 9-40 (22.5%) on threes. Chicago also made nine triples, but took only 26 shots to get them. It’s not supposed to be that way.
- Incredibly, both teams were 0-6 from the arc in the fourth quarter.
- Coming soon to a milk carton: a picture of Crowder’s shot. After making 39.8% from the arc in the regular season, Jae is just 22.2% from deep in the five playoff games (6-27).
- Same for IT: 21.1% (8-38) on threes in the playoffs after making 37.9% in the regular season.
- Despite struggling most of the game, Isaiah still was perfect at the FT line (11-11) and scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.
- Al Horford is actually pretty good:
Horford is the 1st starting center to lead the @celtics in ast & score 20+ pts in a playoff game since Cowens in '76 Finals Game 1 (25/10)! pic.twitter.com/id1KKK5Etx
— NBA.com/Stats (@nbastats) April 27, 2017
- That would be Dave Cowens, who’s in the Hall of Fame.
- Marcus Smart quietly had eight assists and zero confrontations.
- Gerald Green returned to earth, making no impact with just two points in 12 minutes.
- Amir Johnson hasn’t seen the floor for two straight games.
- Hoiberg remembered he had Anthony Morrow on the roster. Morrow is a shooter who always seems to play well against Boston. He put up eight first-half points in his first meaningful action of the series.
- What did Olynyk do to piss off NBA refs? He never seems to catch a break on the calls. In one sequence, he was whistled after slightly bumping Butler on a drive, and moments later took a clear charge from Butler that was ignored.
- For the third time in the series, Boston got the wrong end of a goaltending call. This time, Bradley blocked a layup by Canaan when the ball was barely out of the shooter’s hand. Replay showed the ball was not on the way down, nor above the cylinder.
- To be fair, Crowder twice got away with fouls – both times holding Robin Lopez – during that 13-0 run. Lopez blew up and was hit with a technical. (Bonus: Wade also was T’d up during the run.)
- That was all part of Chicago’s implosion in the fourth. Representative highlight:
Horford picks off the inbounds pass and takes it all the way! https://t.co/AB69V7nSCo
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 27, 2017
- When the Bulls got to the locker room, there was a flashback to the ancient Boston Garden:
Wade just informed teammates there's no hot water for showers in visiting locker room.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) April 27, 2017
- There were two offensive three-seconds calls, but no palming violations. Too bad, Fred:
Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg quickly bails from podium when asked whether Celtics' Isaiah Thomas carried the ball during Game 5… pic.twitter.com/M1IYVrVRkK
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) April 27, 2017
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