Imrem: Bulls overcome Isaiah Thomas story in win

Winter sports have been turned upside down this spring.

Who would have thought that the Bulls have more playoff victories than the Blackhawks even this early in the postseason?

But that's where we are.

The Hawks are down 2-0 in their series against Nashville. The Bulls are up 1-0 in their series against Boston.

Charles Barkley certainly didn't see this coming.

The TNT analyst declared on the pregame show Sunday night, "The Chicago Bulls got zero chance tonight … zero … the Chicago Bulls got no chance."

The point was that Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas' teammates would rally around him, his sister, his entire family.

The talk of Game 1 of the Bulls-Boston first-round playoff series was that Thomas chose to play a day after learning his sister Chyna, 22, died in an automobile crash back home in Washington state.

Well, the Bulls didn't exactly steal the Thomas storyline as much as overcome it … or maybe survive it.

Thomas contributed 33 points to the Celtics but the Bulls prevailed 106-102 with a composed performance down the stretch.

"We really had to battle," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. "Our effort all night long was terrific."

The Bulls had to deal with the atmosphere in TD Garden, the emotional introduction of Thomas and the moment of silence for his sister.

"Our players have a relationship with Isaiah, so we kind of let them do their own thing," Hoiberg said.

The Bulls' own thing was to take away the series' homecourt advantage in less than three hours that the Celtics took nearly six months to establish.

The suspicion going in was that the gap between the teams wasn't as wide as the seedings - Celtics No. 1, Bulls No. 8 - would indicate.

The Celts have been portrayed as the worst No. 1 in a long time and Bulls showed signs lately of being better than the average No. 8.

If nothing else, Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade give the Bulls two potential fourth-quarter closers while Boston has very little in that respect other than Thomas.

Butler did the honors during the second half, scoring 23 of his 30 total points.

Wade contributed a big basket late. So did Jerian Grant. But as much as anyone, Bobby Portis was the difference with 19 points and 9 rebounds off the bench.

Butler, Portis and the rest were just enough to beat Thomas' remarkable performance.

The Celtics' point guard is listed at 5-feet-9, likely a stretch, so he must have one of the NBA's biggest hearts to compete at this level.

So what must it take to play like Thomas did on this night with his heart in pieces?

"He's such a good kid … such a competitor … such a tough kid," Hoiberg said. "It's such a horrible tragedy. Our prayers are with Isaiah and his family."

Every day a lot of people around America go to work shortly after the death of a loved one.

Few do so in front of 18,000 spectators in an arena and millions more watching on national television.

Thomas cried for his sister. He cried on the bench a couple hours before tipoff. He cried during the moment of silence for her.

Then, with "Chyna … R.I.P. Lil Sis on his sneakers," Thomas went out and played his broken heart out.

More than just Chicago's winter sports scene has been turned upside down this spring.

mimrem@dailyherald.com