Butler, Bulls down Celtics
The Chicago Bulls waited until the final night of the regular season to cement their spot in the postseason. Jimmy Butler made sure the wait for a playoff victory was a short one.
Butler had 30 points and nine rebounds as the Bulls outlasted top-seeded Boston, 106-102, in Game 1 on Sunday on an emotional night for grieving Celtics star Isaiah Thomas.
Playing a day after his 22year-old sister, Chyna Thomas, was killed in a car accident in their home state of Washington, Thomas led the Celtics with 33 points. But Butler overcame a united TD Garden crowd and led Chicago to the victory, scoring 23 points in the second half.
“We were so locked in all week,” Butler said. “We knew their stuff, just like they knew ours. But we executed extremely well. We haven’t done that all season, but this is the right time to do it.”
He also got a big lift from the Bulls’ young reserves, who outscored their Boston counterparts, 35-22.
Bobby Portis finished with 19 for the Bulls.
Chicago coach Fred Hoiberg lauded his team’s defensive effort, particularly how it outrebounded Boston, 5336. He also had praise for the job Butler did defending Thomas late, after Rajon Rondo picked up his fifth foul.
“Jimmy is obviously our best defender,” he said. “Jimmy is going to have his turn to guard him.”
Al Horford had 19 points, eight assists and seven rebounds for the Celtics.
While he said the team was “never going to make excuses,” Horford acknowledged that it was a tough night on everyone in Boston’s locker room.
“This is hard,” he said. “This was difficult, and I felt like our guys really dealt with it best. We knew [Thomas] was hurting. We have a lot of respect for him that he was able to come out.”
Boston fans rallied behind Thomas, showering him with a deafening cheer when he was introduced. Still, Thomas appeared to be a little emotional at the start of the game, badly missing his first free throw short off the front rim. He finished 10 for 18 from the field and 10 for 12 from the line.
Thomas did not address the media afterward.
at Houston 118, Oklahoma City 87: James Harden scored 37 points to outshine Russell Westbrook, and the Rockets pulled away in the third quarter and coasted to a win over the Thunder in Game 1 of their Western Conference series.
The Rockets were up by 20 when Harden came off the bench with about seven minutes remaining. He went right to work — making two threepointers to power a 10-0 run and push the lead to 110-80 with 41⁄2 minutes left.
Harden, who along with Westbrook is a front-runner for MVP, went to the bench after that and both teams eventually cleared their benches.
Westbrook had 22 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. But he made just six of 23 shots and had nine turnovers for the sixth-seeded Thunder.
Harden also had nine assists and seven rebounds, and Patrick Beverley had a playoff career-best 21 points along with 10 rebounds for Houston.
at Golden State 121, Portland 109: Kevin Durant had 32 points and 10 rebounds in his Golden State playoff debut, and Stephen Curry scored 29 points as the Warriors won the series opener.
Durant shot 12 for 20, showing no issues with a recent leftknee injury that sidelined him 19 games.
The Trail Blazers’ CJ McCollum scored 41 points and teammate Damian Lillard had 34, but the Warriors made the crucial plays on both ends down the stretch.
at Washington 114, Atlanta 107: John Wall scored a playoff career-high 32 points and dished out 14 assists, and Markieff Morris added 21 points as the Wizards beat the Hawks in Game 1 of their firstround series.
Feeding off Morris’ hot start to the second half, Wall scored 15 points in the third quarter alone.
Dennis Schroder led the Hawks with 25 points and and Paul Millsap added 19.