Tough loss

First things first - a quick thanks to Joe for getting those last few rounds. And a special shout out to Kendrick "Everybody has their night, I know it won’t happen again. He’ll never have another game like that against us. It wasn’t anything that they did. It was all on us." Perkins - BG and his 42 points say hello.

I just emailed Paul Pierce (assuming his email is paulpierce@gmail.com) to make sure he knew that the Bulls are: (1) the 7th seed, (2) played a terrible game, (3) in Boston, (4) got out-rebounded badly, (5) got a less-than-great game from our best player ... and still had a chance to win it at the end.

These scum-bag defending champs get way too much credit. All they do is whine and complain to the refs (don't get me started on officiating), then when they get lucky on their own homecourt, they stick there chin out like they just shcoked the world. Memo to Boston: you were supposed to win these games and YOU BARELY ESCAPED 1-1!! Act like you've been there before, and maybe try having a little class.





Not many links because I don't want to read about how "great" Allen and Rondo played ...

Game recap -

Ray Allen landed the final blow in a memorable duel with Ben Gordon on Monday night, shooting the Boston Celtics back into their first-round series.

Allen made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 2 seconds left and finished with 30 points, leading the Celtics to a 118-115 win over the Chicago Bulls.

Gordon nearly carried Chicago to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. He scored with 12.3 seconds left to tie it, the final hoop of his playoff career-high 42 points. Then Boston set up a play for Allen, who took a pass from Rajon Rondo and connected from the right side.

Shootout on the anniversary of 63 -

It was fitting that the Bulls and Boston Celtics were battling in a thrilling, hard-nosed and high-scoring playoff game Monday night, because it was the 23rd anniversary of Michael Jordan's 63-point performance in a double-overtime loss to the Celtics at the old Boston Garden.

Of course, no one player approached that kind of point total in the Celtics' 118-115 victory in Game 2 at TD Banknorth Garden, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a Jordanesque performance.

Actually, there were two as Ben Gordon of the Bulls and Ray Allen of the Celtics put on a second-half shootout that would have made Jordan's right arm fatigued.

OK, maybe that was an exaggeration. Jordan's right arm never got tired, as he proved to the world 23 years ago with his first signature playoff moment.

''That was one of those surreal games that you play in, where you know something special is happening,'' said Bulls general manager John Paxson, who was Jordan's backcourt mate that game.

Tough loss, but ready for game 3 -

Joakim Noah sat in stunned silence late Monday night, ice packs on both knees, a blank stare on his sour face.

The Bulls had just lost a 118-115 gut-wrencher to the Celtics, tying their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at a game apiece when Ray Allen sank a 25-foot three-pointer over Noah's outstretched arms with two seconds left.

Allen's shot capped a shootout for the ages with fellow Connecticut alumnus Ben Gordon, and this still-fresh moment looked like it might haunt Noah forever—or at least until Game 3 Thursday night at the United Center.

"Tough loss, tough loss," Noah said, staring off into the distance. "Good shot. Good shot. Good shot. But we'll be ready on Thursday. We'll be ready on Thursday."

Interesting thoughts on streaky shooting -

Last week I wrote about a study showing that what seems to be hot shooting, what we all assume to be one of the most important aspects of the game, is apparently seldom real.

Then you have to ask ... did anybody see Ben Gordon shooting tonight?

It was a thriller in Boston, full of all kinds of fun stuff, like the Bulls not having a timeout to try to send the game into overtime, Derrick Rose missing a healthy chunk of the first half with two fouls before finishing the game without getting another, and a Boston lineup (Paul Pierce with Eddie House, Stephon Marbury, Mikki Moore and Leon Powe) that reminded me a lot of the bad old pre-Garnett days of the Celtics.

And in the end that wily veteran Ray Allen nailed the game-winner, despite Gordon's best efforts to torch the Celtics and some research.

In a nutshell, the study said that players have their field goal percentages over a certain period of time. Just like a flipped coin will often have streaks of four or five "heads" in a row, so would a 50% shooter. It doesn't mean they're hot. It just means they miss some and make some, and sometimes those misses and makes come in groups.