Celtics' Avery Bradley urges teammates not to quit against Chicago Bulls
The 2017 NBA Playoffs first round matchup between the Eastern Conference's first-seed, Boston Celtics and eighth-seed, Chicago Bulls continued on Tuesday night.
Celtics fans at the TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, witnessed another loss from the home team when Bulls grabbed Game 2 victory with the final score of 111 against Celtics' 97. During the postgame interview, players from the Bulls, who now leads the series 2-0, discussed what strategic plans they applied in the game that were useful. The Celtics' lineup has been well-aware of their lapses since the Bulls took a lead but Avery Bradley said they are not going to quit in this best-of-seven game series.
The Celtics' 26-year old point guard/shooting guard, mentioned in the interview that his teammates' lack of energy has been obvious on Tuesday night's game. ESPN reported that former Celtics, Rajon Rondo, now Bulls' point guard, noticed how the Celtics have given up the game, with Bradley saying that he had heard Rondo said it himself.
On their previous first game against Chicago, the Celtics have given up a total of twenty offensive rebounds, which resulted for the team to rethink about how they should be better on the glass for Game 2. During the first half of Game 2, Boston still had a total of ten offensive boards missed, which was one of the reasons why the Bulls had a double-digit lead at the end of the second quarter.
On the second half, the Bulls, led by Rondo, continued to dominate at the basket while Celtics continued to struggle on its defensive and offensive ends. Boston is now the second team in the NBA to fall 2-0 in a first-round series against an eight-seed team in the playoffs. Optimism is what drives Bradley to get better and help his team overcome the two consecutive losses.
He mentioned in the postgame interview that as a team player, one must continue to be positive and play hard to have a better outcome. Jae Crowder, Celtics' small forward also added that it is not yet the end of the Celtics season and all they have to do is bounce back. Game 3 of the Celtics-Bulls matchup will be tonight at the Chicago home court, United Center, Illinois.
