NBA Playoffs 2015: Notable Stats, Exciting Highlights and Round 1 Scores
Jimmy Butler proved the Chicago Bulls have two perimeter players capable of exploding offensively on Monday night. The Bulls shooting guard scored 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds in leading Chicago to a 91-82 win and a 2-0 lead in its first-round series with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Butler was on fire in the second half. He had 21 points after halftime and helped push the Bulls on the definitive fourth-quarter run that separated them from the Bucks. The most memorable play was this two-handed flush in the face of Zaza Pachulia.
Derrick Rose didn't shoot the ball well, but he did create for his teammates and put together a 12-point third quarter. Rose finished with 15 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. For as good as the Bulls backcourt was, the bigs deserve some love for the way they dominated the glass.
Chicago out-rebounded Milwaukee 64-48 led by 19 from Joakim Noah. Pau Gasol had 16 boards to go along with 11 points and four blocked shots.
Everything wasn't great for Chicago. The team has a 2-0 series lead, but it may have lost rookie forward Nikola Mirotic to a knee injury. The game was chippy in the second half. Mirotic and Pachulia got tangled up going for a loose ball. Mirotic's knee was injured in the mild skirmish. Here's a look at the play, per NBA Official:
K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune says Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau is noncommittal about Mirotic's status for Game 3:
The Bulls have an extra day of rest before the series resumes in Milwaukee. If Mirotic is unable to go, Taj Gibson should see even more minutes as the only trusted backup power forward the team has available.
Truth be told, the Bulls could probably handle the Bucks without Mirotic. To be safe, the team might want to consider letting him sit until the second round begins. Chicago will likely be facing the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Mirotic will be especially valuable in that series.
Here's a look at where the Bulls-Bucks series stands, as well as the other seven first-round matchups.
| Chicago leads Milwaukee 2-0 | Chicago 103, Milwaukee 91 | Chicago 91, Milwaukee 82 |
| Washington leads Toronto 2-0 | Washington 93, Toronto 86 (OT) | Washington 117, Toronto 106 |
| Cleveland leads Boston 2-0 | Cleveland 113, Boston 100 | Cleveland 99, Boston 91 |
| Atlanta leads Brooklyn 1-0 | Atlanta 99, Brooklyn 92 | |
| Golden State leads New Orleans 2-0 | Golden State 106, New Orleans 99 | Golden State 97, New Orleans 87 |
| Houston leads Dallas 2-0 | Houston 118, Dallas 108 | Houston 111, Dallas 99 |
| Memphis leads Portland 1-0 | Memphis 100, Portland 86 | |
| L.A. Clippers lead San Antonio 1-0 | L.A. Clippers 107, San Antonio 92 |
Golden State Handles Adversity and New Orleans
In case you were waiting to see how the Golden State Warriors would handle a big deficit in the playoffs, you got your answer on Monday night. Trailing by 13 early, the Warriors came storming back to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 97-87 to take their own 2-0 lead in the series.
The Warriors got a combined 48 points from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson and another double-double from Draymond Green (14 points, 12 rebounds). Golden State won the battle of the boards 49-42 despite a 26-point, 11-rebound performance from the Pelicans' Anthony Davis.
Green got it done on both ends of the floor. In the play below, he came up with a big steal that led to a key hoop in the fourth quarter.
The Pelicans are going to have to find a way to slow down the Warriors' transition game. Golden State scored 24 points in transition. The Warriors are hard enough to stop in normal half-court sets, so if the Pelicans are giving up fast-break buckets, they have no chance to win.
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