Won 4 in a row

[DERRENMATTS]

That was quite a turn around. Lost the 1st two games at home, looked pretty lost out there, Rondo-Butler-Wade looked rejuvenated, and we were on an emotional roller coaster with Chyna's death. I honestly didn't know if we'd win a game in this series.

But lo and behold, we won 4 games in a row, and the Bulls were totally taken out of their game. Rondo got hurt, and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. But more than that, it was most likely we figured out how to beat the Bulls.

What was your guys' impression of how we played?

[FLCeltsFan]

I've watched the games several times and I think the first two losses had more to do with the Celtics than it did with the Bulls. They played without any energy and defense was poor. They weren't really playing team ball. Nobody was fighting for rebounds. Rondo wasn't all that great in game 1 but he was in game 2.

Sure, not having Rondo had an effect on the Bulls, but that wouldn't explain how the Celtics went from being dominated on both ends of the court to being the team that was dominating. The Celtics played the first two games under a cloud of grief for Isaiah. Their minds weren't on the game.

Then IT went home and came back somewhat refreshed and they got the message from KG and suddenly with IT being his old self and smiling and playing loose, the whole team turned it around. They crashed the boards, and played harder than the Bulls in each of the 4 games.

[runrondo]

I think the loss of Rondo helped our defense for sure (as did our increased effort), but our offense being rejuvenated had more to do with Brad's changes and our team playing with more pep in their step. Same for rebounding; we clearly put more effort out there to stop them killing us on the boards. They were just out hustling us those first two games for way too many 50/50 chances.

[afceltic]

Brad starting Green over Johnson had a lot to do wit it too. Green helped us get off to some really fast starts that rebuilt our confidence. We don't have the scoring in the other 4 positions to carry a C that can't score or rebound.