Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 2:08 pm  |  55 responses

Tweet

Celtics/Bulls Game 4 Recap

I can’t watch! No, really, I can’t watch.

“This is for the fringes and such
My generation just sit like dust
Feed ‘em off of us and ask what I trust
Tell these stories, I’m right here holdin’ my nuts
Right here holdin’ my nuts
Right here holdin’ my nuts
Right here holdin’ my nuts
Right here holdin’ my nuts”
–El-P, “Deep Space 9mm”

by Russ Bengtson

This story is about Ben Gordon. Well, it sort of is, anyway. How he keeps coming through again and again in these here 2009 NBA Playoffs, taking shots nobody has any business taking and making shots nobody has any business making. Then celebrating the biggest ones in a way that will have him writing an even bigger check to the NBA. Most likely with a big-ass smile on his face and a hand on, well, you know.

Here’s the thing, though. I didn’t see a single second of the game. I was in the exact same place I was during Game One—which I didn’t see a second of, either—the pressbox overlooking CitiField (the new home of the New York Mets—they’re a baseball team). I spent my entire afternoon with one eye on the on-field action and the other on my G1, furiously refreshing my Twitter feed for updates from folks like @chicagobulls and @inanemusings and @CelticsNow. Both sides represented, heartbreak and exhilaration tumbling over one another and overlapping. The end result was a little like being in two press boxes at the same time, one virtual and one all too real. (I’m pretty sure some of the New York baseball writers who were there yesterday got their start when Wally Pipp was manning first for the Yankees.)

I do not consider myself to be superstitious. I had every intent of watching Game Four, despite the horrors of Game Three which were still all too fresh in my mind. But when the offer came to help a friend with their Mets coverage on a weekend that promised to break into the 80s, I couldn’t say no. I didn’t wear the same clothes, or even sit in the same seat—like I said, I’m not superstitious—but I will say that the thought of my non-watching correlating with Bulls victories did cross my mind. For another win, missing the game would be a small price to pay.

So what have we seen (or in my case, not seen) so far? Perseverance from both sides, for one. Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo going at each other like it was their 10th series battle, not their first, Ray Allen and Ben Gordon trading increasingly improbable shots, Kendrick Perkins and Joakim Noah initiating contact and whistles, Glen Davis and Tyrus Thomas laying the groundwork for a Bayou-bred rivalry. And then there’s Paul Pierce, the defending Finals MVP, trying to add another chapter to his Hall-of-Fame worthy story.

As Axl Rose once asked, where do we go now? Will the Bulls be just another hard first-round out, or will they eliminate the defending champs just as they did two years ago? (And if so, will it be the referees’s fault?) When I previewed this series, I predicted the Celtics in six, and that prediction still stands. The Bulls have managed two hard-fought victories (and one hard-fought loss) and were blown out once. The expectation is that the Celtics will be able to hold serve on their home floor tomorrow night, then close out the series in Chicago. They know if they’re to have any chance at all of toppling the Cavaliers (who loom as overwhelming favorites in the East), they’re going to have to get some time off somewhere along the line. If they stagger into the Eastern Finals following another pair of seven-game slugfests, LeBron and company will steamroll right over them.

But anything can happen, including what seemed almost unthinkable a few short weeks ago—the Bulls advancing to the second round. The Bobcats and Pacers and Nets (oh my) fell short, the Pistons went quietly, but the Bulls live on to fight another day. I had misgivings about them making the playoffs at all as late as early April—what was the point of missing out on a lottery pick if it just meant slaughter at the hands of the Cavaliers? But then the Pistons faltered, the Bulls redoubled their efforts, and Kevin Garnett’s balky knee turned the Celtics from formidable to beatable. And suddenly a best-of-seven series is a best of three, with neither team holding a decided edge.

Although one guy at least is holding something.

(In a reverse of the usual, how ‘bout y’all tell me what went down yesterday. Fill up the comments with your favorite plays, your favorite moments, your favorite Big Baby jokes. And YOU tell ME what’s going to happen next.)