April Madness: Celtics-Bulls series a classic
Step aside, March Madness. The NCAA Tournament has never seen anything like this. The Boston-Chicago playoff series is the most remarkable drama I’ve ever seen on a basketball court.
Six games. Four overtime games. Seven overtime periods. Only one game that hasn’t gone down to the final minute.
Players playing completely out of their minds. Ray Allen and Ben Gordon and Paul Pierce with amazing clutch shot after amazing clutch shot. Boyhood friends Big Baby Davis and Tyrus Thomas taking turns making huge plays. Rajon Rondo and Derrick Rose showing why they are sooner rather than late point-guard stars.
Here’s another way to look at this series. The Celtics and Bulls have reached the final seconds of the fourth quarter or an overtime period 13 times. The game remained in the balance for 12 of those 13 final countdowns.
The NBA never has seen anything like it. Neither has any other sport.
The TNT crew of Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith debated whether this was the greatest series ever and both voted nay, saying a first-round series couldn’t rise to that level. I disagree. Check out some of the Finals duds of recent years and tell me which is the more compelling basketball.
We are watching history. And Chicago’s victory Thursday night assures that we get one last gift, another game in the most dramatic series of basketball games ever played.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been a long time fan of the NBA dating back to Moses Malone and Calvin Murphy of the Houston Rockets in the old Summit arena. I have never seen two teams match each other in intensity and skill as these two teams have. I can’t wait for what a game seven will bring.