Friday, May 1, 2009

Exciting Doesn't Begin to Describe It

As I was attending a horrible game, the Bulls-Celtics were in yet another incredible classic, this time in a game so awesome that Shoals described it as the greatest game ever. Who am I to disagree?



When I walked through the door of my house, Adam EatShit told me I was missing an incredible game, that the Bulls and Celtics were heading to double-overtime and Ray Allen was going bonkers.



Luckily for me, I got to watch the second and third overtimes, and yes, it was was awesome. Especially that ending. Wow. Just wow. First, up by one with 23.7 seconds left in that third overtime, the Bulls ran a gorgeous inbound play, getting Kirk Hinrich wide open for a layup. Only Hinrich somehow inexplicably missed. Ray Allen snatched the rebound and the Celtics called a timeout with 16.7 left.

The Bulls had a foul to give, and on the inbound, Derek Rose immediately fouled Rajon Rondo 30 feet from the basket with only eight-tenths of a second coming off the clock. Doug Collins was raving about how much he hated that foul. Essentially no time came off the clock, and now the Bulls would send the Celtics to the line if they fouled again. He was right; it was an awful foul.

But it didn't take Rose long to make up for it, pulling off quite possibly the most incredible block I've ever seen.



Yes, Rose showed his true Memphis colors by missing both free throws, but it was no matter. Rondo's buzzer-beater heave was way off, and the Bulls won another overtime thriller, this time taking it in three overtimes, 128-127, to force a game 7. I wish this series would never end. And I wish I would have stayed home and watched the whole damn game.

Evidently, John Salmons went off, scoring 35 for Chicago, and Ray Allen was the man, going off for 51 points including 9 threes. Here's the thing, why the hell wasn't Ray-Ray getting the ball in that final OT? Why did Rondo insist on taking Rose one-on-one instead of feeding it to the white hot Allen, a player who's been clutch all series? His youthful exuberance definitely got the best of him. Rondo has been amazing, but in that instance, you have to get Allen the ball.

I'm glad he didn't though, because that was one incredible ending. And of course, I'd rather see the Bulls win than another team from Boston.

The Bulls-Celts game wasn't the only exciting one last night either. Before the second OT began, we flipped to the Canucks-Blackhawks game, and Vancouver was up 3-1. When we came back after that epic Boston-Chicago ending, the game was tied 3-3.

Then, with just over a minute left in regulation, the Canucks broke out on a 3-on-1, which they executed beautifully. Only problem was Nikolai Khabibulin slid across and made an incredible stop. Well, it could have been problem, had Sami Salo not been following up. Luckily for Vancouver, the veteran defenseman did, slamming the puck home to give the Canucks the 4-3 win.





It sucks that the Flyers and Sixers are both done, but as last night's games showed, there are still plenty of reasons to watch both the NBA and NHL playoffs, even for Philadelphia fans.

BallHype: hype it up!

3 comments:

  1. didn't see the Celtics game, i was watching the Yanks then the Blackhawks game. After the Yanks opened a big old can of whoop ass on the angels, i Then turned to the Nucks-hawks game. That game was fuckin great. some scoring some hitting, And a great comeback for the hawks being down 3-0 to rip off 3 straight. That last rush by the Canucks was nice, but i must say i want the Hawks to take this series Kane and Toews are the shit i wanna see them play the Wings in the conference finals. that will be 7 game war for sure.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm rooting for the Canucks to win the Cup. I love me some Roberto Luongo.

    /still pissed he isn't a Flyer

    ReplyDelete
  3. ha, hear that he is up there on the top goalies list. No matter who takes this series it will a war to the end against the Wings.

    ReplyDelete