Die-hards stick with their Bulls
BOSTON - You've got to hand it to Neil and Jigar Patel, who drove up from New York and managed to snag two seats right at the end of the Celtics' bench for Game 7.
The two cousins, dressed Saturday in Derrick Rose jerseys and red caps, are natives of Skokie.
"Connections," Neil said when asked how he scored those seats. "We got them about five hours ago. You've got to support the Bulls."
A few rows back, Chris Madek was a brave soul, a single spot of red (Ben Gordon jersey) in a sea of green.
Madek, originally from France, described himself as a former Bulls season-ticket holder who moved to New York for work and couldn't stay away from the finale of this great series.
"Price didn't matter," Madek said before tipoff. "I think it's going to be a classic. I just wanted to be here."
Inside the locker room, Rose was asked to compare an NBA Game 7 to the NCAA title game, which he played in last year.
Rose felt the biggest difference was in college at neutral sites a team always had a solid supply of fans. In the NBA, road games are pure hostility.
"There might be 100 Bulls fans here," Rose said. "The fans up here are much crazier."