One of the more unlikely playoff teams in NBA history has pulled off one of the more unlikely wins in NBA playoff history. The Chicago Bulls defeated the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday afternoon in a four-hour, triple-overtime marathon that at one point seemed in danger of doubling the score of Thursday night’s sluggish Game 3 Bulls victory.
For the first three games of the Chicago Bulls/Brooklyn Nets series , the on-court action was criticized for being deliberate, defensively-based, and too ugly for public consumption. On Saturday afternoon, though, the public consumed a whole lot more of the Bulls and Nets than they expected. Sixty-three minutes worth of action from the two teams, as Chicago pulled out the remarkable win thanks to the play of Nate Robinson, and the team’s ability to overcome just about any obstacle imaginable.
The game started as a surprisingly efficient offensive affair, with both sides running out to a strong first half and Kirk Hinrich and Deron Williams trading jumpers as opposed to trading stops. Brooklyn grew in confidence as the game moved along, with mixed in their favor with a Bulls defense that seemed a little flat for the first time in a few games – Williams (32 points, 11-25 shooting on Saturday after missing 17 of his last 23 shots heading into Game 4) and Joe Johnson (22 points) were allowed to step into jumpers, while the team’s bench contributed solid play offensively.
As a result, the Bulls turned to one of the NBA’s more offensive players. Pugnacious, 5-9 sparkplug Nate Robinson.
Robinson was devastating in the final quarter of regulation, nearly breaking Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls playoff record of 24 fourth quarter points with a 23-point turn in 12 minutes of dominant offensive play. Robinson was able to both turn the corner on a step-slow Net defense, or pull up for a series of long-range bombs, single-handedly bringing Chicago back into a game that that appeared to pass them by partway through the fourth quarter. Here is his handiwork:
Robinson’s toughest make of that quarter was the Chicago’s most crucial; an odd banked-in two pointer that saw Robinson jumping from on top of the three-point line and leaning in while nearly releasing the jumper near the free throw line. Watch:
It gave Chicago a 109-109 tie heading into regulation's penultimate play, before injured Nets swingman Joe Johnson nailed the tough interior make, and Joakim Noah gave the Bulls a put-back lay-in to send the game into it's first overtime.
It’s first overtime.
Robinson continued to keep the Nets on a string in the first extra session, mixing makes with smart passes as Chicago slowly stepped up the interior passing game that did them so well when center Joakim Noah was healthy earlier this year. Robinson eventually fouled out on a tough offensive foul call, but not before tossing in 34 points and four assists in 28 minutes of play. Without each and every bit of that output, the Bulls would be heading back to Brooklyn with a best-of three series to play, with two games coming on the Nets’ home court.
Instead, the Bulls hung tough. When Robinson went down, Noah and Carlos Boozer stepped up the scoring on the interior. When Noah fouled out, Taj Gibson came in to make a huge jumper to help take the game to a third overtime. When Gibson fouled out, Nazr Mohammed rumbled off the bench to score four points in the game’s final minutes to seal the Chicago win. All while Hinrich and Luol Deng wore themselves silly attempting to stay with Deron Williams and Johnson.
The Nets aren’t out of the series – Chicago often shoots so poorly that it may take them the next game and a half to rack up the 142 they scored on Saturday, and the Nets have proven they can be in close games with Chicago on the road. Still, after working up a double-figure lead in the fourth quarter, and after watching as a potentially game-clinching dunk from C.J. Watson went awry, the Nets have to be more than frustrated at letting this slip away.
And then merely playing to a tie in the first overtime.
And doing the same second overtime.
We’re not sure what more you have to take away from the Chicago Bulls to make a loser out of them. This team just will not go away.
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