Series Overview
4
wins
3
Game 2
Celtics 118Bulls 115
Game 3
Celtics 107Bulls 86
Game 4
Bulls 121Celtics 118
Game 6
Bulls128C's 127
Game 7
Celtics109Bulls 99

Game 1 Bulls 105 Celtics 103 (OT)

Rose's Garden in Game 1 (AP)

Rose's Garden in Game 1

Rookie guard Derrick Rose led the way for the Bulls over the Celtics, scoring 36 points and adding 11 assists.
Dan Shaughnessy

It sure felt like the beginning of the end

The Celtics are in for a bloody death and it's just a matter of who plays the executioner. It could be Cleveland or it could be Orlando. But Chicago?

Game 2 Celtics 118 Bulls 115

Allen evens up series (Jim Davis / Globe Staff)

Allen evens up series

Ray Allen drained a three-pointer with two seconds left in regulation to give the Celtics the win in Game 2 at the Garden. Allen bounced back from a horrid Game 1 with 30 points.
Dan Shaughnessy

Quite a series of events

The perfect Boston sports day ended in perfect fashion when Ray Allen came off a pick, took a pass from Rajon Rondo, and swished a 25-foot trey with two seconds remaining to give the Celtics a stayin'-alive victory over the fearless Bulls.

Game 3 Celtics 107 Bulls 86

Taking Bulls by the horns (Globe Staff / Jim Davis)

Taking Bulls by the horns

Stephon Marbury (left) and Paul Pierce are good humor men -- for a good reason -- as they relax in the fourth quarter of a Game 3 romp over the Bulls. The Celtics sent a definitive message with a 107-86 victory, moving to a 2-1 series lead.
On Basketball

Pierce puts the pieces together

With a needed A-plus offensive performance in last night's romp in Chicago, a confident Paul Pierce (24 points) was the key to Boston's 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven first-round series.

Game 4 Bulls 121 Celtics 118 (2 OT)

Celtics: Double trouble (Globe Staff / Jim Davis)

Celtics: Double trouble

The Celtics went from Game 3 efficiency experts to fumbling away chance after late-game chance in a 121-118 double-overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls.
On basketball

Second City return wasn't first choice

The Windy City is great place to be this time of year. But as cool as Chitown may be in the spring, the Celtics are now kicking themselves since they'd rather come back in their free time rather than being forced to return.

Game 5 Celtics 106 Bulls 104 (OT)

Celtics 106, Bulls 104
Paul Pierce (Globe Staff / Jim Davis)

Over and above

Paul Pierce connected on three jumpers in the final 77 seconds, the clinching score with 3.4 seconds remaining, in a 106-104 overtime win as the Celtics took a 3-2 lead in their first-round playoff series going into Chicago.
Bob Ryan

Four quarters aren't enough

Throw out that aberrational thing last Thursday and we've had four dazzling, exhausting, and draining exhibitions of NBA greatness in what may have begun as a relatively innocuous 2-7 matchup but has turned into instant history.

Game 6 Bulls 128 Celtics 127 (3 OT)

Triple header (Globe Staff / Jim Davis)

Triple header

In their first triple-overtime game in the playoffs in 33 years, the Celtics fell to the Bulls, 128-127, and extended their first-round playoff series to a climactic Game 7 in Boston.
Dan Shaughnessy

Time-tested series has all the extras

And so after 24 regulation quarters, 7 overtimes, 106 lead changes, 65 ties, and more stitches than the Stanley Cup playoffs, we are going where this thing has been headed all along.

Game 7 Celtics 109 Bulls 99

Short and sweet (Globe Staff / Barry Chin)

Short and sweet

No overtime. No problem. The most closely contested and longest playoff series in NBA history concluded as the Celtics closed out the Chicago Bulls at the Garden.
Dan Shaughnessy

Enjoying sights of the seven C's

There's Game 7 magic in those parquet panel floorboards. Beating the Celtics in a Game 7 in the Garden is like beating a Kennedy in a Massachusetts election.