The Celtics and Bulls are set to square off for the first time since last season’s playoffs Friday night in Boston and for a number of different reasons I feel we're getting excellent value on the visitors: In one of the most exciting playoff series in NBA history, Boston finally eliminated Chicago with a 109-99 victory in Game 7 last May; the seventh-seeded Bulls gave the defending champions all they could handle with a league-record four games going into OT.
The Bulls continued that strong play on opening night; Chicago displayed balanced scoring and put forth a big defensive effort to beat the Spurs in their home-opener.
Luol Deng had a team-high 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting; a good start after missing the final 22 games last season plus the playoffs with a stress fracture in his right tibia.
On the other side of the court: KG is back and Boston is off to a 2-0 start.
After defeating Cleveland 95-89 in Tuesday’s season opener, the Celtics crushed Charlotte 92-59 on Wednesday, holding the Bobcats to a franchise-low in scoring.
I believe containing Derrick Rose, whose pre-season ankle injury does not seem to be an issue at all, will be a more difficult task for the Celtics tonight though.
Bottom line: I expect the Bulls to come ready to play in this one and for the Celtics to have enough of a "let-down" to allow Chicago to keep this one close down the stretch; in what should also be a low-scoring affair I feel the value in this game is on the BULLS! *8*
Nick "BookieKiller" Parsons
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