Bulls run foul of Rivers' Celtics
BOSTON -- Celtics coach Doc Rivers believes his team could meet the Bulls several more times before the end of April.
"I think they're going to make the playoffs," Rivers said prior to playing the Bulls at TD Banknorth Garden. "They could be our first-round opponent."
Now, there's a matchup NBA nation is not clamoring to see, especially after Friday's foul-infested 116-93 Boston blowout that thankfully didn't take place on a school night.
"I think they're playing really good basketball," Rivers continued. "You can see their confidence is growing. Just because they don't have a good record, I still think they're a quality basketball team."
Of course, Rivers said all that before the Bulls crumbled under Boston's defensive pressure in the first quarter, then began fouling as if America's independence relied on it.
The Bulls (25-37) deserved to get blown out of this game, but the Celtics' march to the foul line in the second quarter was astonishing. The home team shot 16 free throws in the final 3:24 of the first half on their way to a whopping 30 free-throw attempts before halftime.
By the time this marathon was over, the two teams tossed up a combined 81 free throws (43 by the Celtics), while the Bulls shot a season-low 31.8 percent from the field.
"The Celtics are a very good defensive team, as they showed tonight," Bulls coach Jim Boylan said. "One of the things you need to do against them is make your open shots, and I thought we struggled in that area."
The Bulls added to Boston's free-throw parade by piling up 4 technical fouls. Forward Drew Gooden was ejected with 55.1 seconds left in the second quarter by referee Scott Wall. Gooden complained after being called for a loose ball foul while tipping in a Ben Gordon miss. Boylan and Larry Hughes each collected technicals in the third quarter.
"They're the top team in the league," Hughes said. "They get away with a lot of stuff, I think. They're an aggressive team, which usually gets the benefit (of the calls). That's just how it was."
"I don't really want to get too much into officiating," Gooden said. "I think it was a little awkward tonight, but you know, at the end of the day we can't rely on the refs."
The strange thing was the Celtics' stars weren't the ones getting to the line. Garnett and Pierce attempted just 2 free throws each in the first half.
Eventually, Pierce led Boston (48-12) with 22 points as all five starters scored in double figures. The Celtics also enjoyed a 55-35 rebounding advantage.
The visitors struggled against Boston's defense right away. The Bulls shot poorly in the first quarter and fell behind 32-20. They hung around for a while in the second quarter but routinely fumbled the ball away whenever they had a chance to trim the deficit to 5 or 6.
Eventually, Ray Allen gave the Celtics some breathing room with a fastbreak lay-in and 3-pointer off a couple of Bulls' miscues to make it 51-36 with four minutes left in the first half. Then the fouling began in earnest and Boston went ahead 63-43 at intermission.
"We caught a team clearly that was tired (from playing Cleveland the previous night) and we played with great energy," Rivers said. "That's a good combination for us."