“The Big Three” of the Chicago Bulls came together in an Alphas-only meeting after the team's shootaround prior to Game 2 against the top-seeded Boston Celtics, devising a master plan to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler discussed offensive and defensive strategies as well as individual play calls to get the Celtics off balance, which proved to work to the tune of a 111-97 win.
“It was great, spending time with those guys,” Wade told CSN's Vincent Goodwill, mentioning he would have these types of meetings with his Big Three group with the Miami Heat.
“Listening to their basketball minds, all of us listening to each other's mind and on the same page. People forget, we just got together. It doesn't just happen. You gotta go through something for it to happen. The best thing is, we went through the adverse situation.”
Whatever they planned, it worked beautifully — with six different players reaching double figures in scoring, including all five starters.
Not only did the Bulls outshoot the Celtics, but they also had more rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks — while also turning the ball over just 10 times during the game.
“We didn't even have to talk about it,” Wade said of the team's chaotic run to the playoffs. “Every team I've been on, we've hit adversity at some point. Some, in the playoffs. You wanna hit it before the playoffs and I think we hit it before the playoffs. It made us better, communicate better. Lead better.”
Chicago has seen its fair share of turmoil during the season, with leadership and effort coming into question, but they were able to rebound and put it together just in time for a playoff run, and now sit two wins away from the first 8-vs-1 upset since the 2012 Philadelphia 76ers.
Whether their talks are merely therapeutic or give them any sort of togetherness — if it works, why change it?
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