Celtics beat Bulls 108-97, take 3-2 lead in series

After losing two straight games and now tied in the series 2-2, Chicago Bulls travel to Boston to take on Celtics in the NBA Playoffs Round1, game 5 tonight.

BACK at home, and back in charge, Bradley Beal scored 27 points, and John Wall added 20 points and 14 assists, leading the Washington Wizards to a 103-99 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night for a 3-2 lead in their first-round Eastern Conference playoff series.

Jimmy Butler has tried to pick up even more of the offensive load, but he can only do so much without big performances from Dwyane Wade. And quit moaning about point guard Rajon Rondo’s thumb injury affecting the transition game.

While no one expected a sweep, would it have been asking too much for the Bulls to win at least one of their home games? The Celtics lost game 1 and game 2 at TD Garden, but came back to win Games 3 and 4 at United Center. The move has worked out with Green scoring eight points in Game 3, and posting 18 points and seven rebounds in Game 4.

The Chicago Bulls are in Boston to take on the Celtics in a very important Game 5 tonight at 1:30 GMT.

Given the opportunity to respond after the Celtics’ off-day practice on Tuesday, Smart said his toughness has never been questioned and fired back at Butler. At the same time, they’re keying in on him.

Does he carry or palm the ball like Hoiberg claims?

“This is a good team we’re playing”, Wade said. And, Thomas not only scored at will last weekend, he created offense by driving and drawing double, sometimes triple, coverage.

“I’ll be all right, ” Butler said, doing his best to downplay his condition.

Wade has had to play through his share of injuries during his career, and although he wouldn’t divulge whatever Butler was going through, it seemed as if they had a conversation about managing his body.

“No one man can guard me”, he proclaimed. Will we see Rajon Rondo try to make a heroic return after missing the last three games?

“Thinking positively though, we got Dwight Howard”, TI continued.

If the Bulls have another fourth quarter like they did in Game 5, they’ll be done.

The Celtics won the two games in Chicago, evening the series, recapturing the home-court advantage and creating in effect a best-of-three.

Chicago Bulls guard Isaiah Canaan (0) sticks out his tongue as he taunts Boston Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas (4) during the second quarter of a first-round NBA playoff basketball game in Boston, Wednesday, April 26, 2017.