These Bulls are different than the Bulls the Celtics saw in the playoffs, with the main difference that Ben Gordon has gone to Detroit and Luol Deng has returned from injury. While Chicago will miss Gordon's scoring, I think it's addition by subtraction for Chicago: His presence was stunting the growth of Derrick Rose, the second-year man out of Memphis who might just be the best point guard in the league in a few years.
Rose vs. Rondo was the marquee matchup in the playoffs, and it's the key matchup tonight. Rose is by his nature a pass-first point guard, but he's too good to be passive offensively, and now that Gordon's gone, the Bulls need him to assert himself on that end. Rondo will have his hands full, though it will help that Kevin Garnett is around; KG is one more man Rondo can funnel Rose to. Rose wasn't able to stop Rondo in the spring, so Rondo should be aggressive offensively to make Rose work and possibly get him into foul trouble.
Other things to watch:
- Garnett and the Celtics need to decide whether they want to let Tyrus Thomas shoot 15-footers, something he's more than willing to do. The team is best defensively when Garnett slumps off the opposing team's four, but Thomas showed in the playoffs last year and last night against San Antonio in Chicago's season opener that he can make that shot.
- Both Thomas and Joakim Noah like to go for spectacular blocked shots, so Celtics' weak-side players should be ready to crash the offensive glass.
- Back-to-backs don't get much tougher than vs. San Antonio and at Boston. Chicago's win last night looks impressive, but after watching and thinking about the game, I thought the Spurs looked flat (perhaps feeling the effects of their own back to back). The Bulls should be a good test, but also shouldn't be a match for us.
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