Bulls Shock Celtics, America

Boston came back from an unsettling first half to grab tenuous control of the game late in the fourth quarter, while Derrick Rose continued a tremendous playoff debut (tying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s scoring record with 36). The thrilling finish (or so we thought) came in odd fashion -- down one with 20 seconds to go, Ben Gordon drove the lane with impatience and fired up a bad floater falling out of bounds. But the rebound ended up back to John Salmons, who was called for a double dribble that was immediate reversed. After the inbounds, with 10 seconds left, Rajon Rondo inexplicably fouled Rose, putting him on the line. Rose sank both.
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↵On the other end, Paul Pierce set up for an elbow jumper. Joakim Noah (who otherwise had a stellar game) decided to nail him with a flying plancha. But Pierce missed the second, leading to overtime. In the extra period, a littany of jumpers from (ahem) Tyrus Thomas (!) gave the Bulls a lead, while 1-for-12 Ray Allen (!!) missed a baseline jumper for double OT at the horn. 105-103, Bulls win.
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↵If Rose is the deity and Thomas the savior, Vin Del Negro -- father of Vinny -- became the star, as the ESPN broadcast crew documented his descent from a suite to the Bulls bench, where he stood in rapt attention for the entire second half and OT. I imagine the Garden staff will do a more diligent job to keep him away from courtside next time around. Vin had a better look than Kevin Garnett, who stayed in the locker room at the half after hanging out on the bench in the first half. He didn’t want to distract his teammates with his fidgety intensity.
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↵Good thing, for the sake of his teammates. KG doesn’t taking losing well.↵