LOS ANGELES, 24 April 2005 — Two storied NBA franchises are back in the playoff spotlight for the first time since losing Hall-of-Fame players in the 1990s.
Boston Celtics won their first division title since Larry Bird departed in 1992, while Chicago Bulls make their first trip to the postseason in seven years.
Not since the legendary Michael Jordan retired in 1998 have the Bulls been in the playoffs.
“There is no magic pill,” Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. “The guys work very hard at defense and are committed to playing it. During that stretch in December and January we were winning games because of it.”
Chicago opens the 2005 NBA playoffs at home today against Washington, who are also making a return to the playoffs after a long drought.
The Wizards are in the postseason for the first time in eight years and this is just their second appearance in 17 seasons.
Boston opens their best-of-seven series at home on Saturday against the scrappy Indian Pacers.
The Bulls lost the season series to the Wizards 2-1 but they will be hoping to use home-court advantage to get off to a quick start. Teams that draw first blood usually win the playoff series. Since 1983, teams that won the first game went on to win 83.9 percent of the time. The young Bulls relied heavily on defense this year after one of their worst starts in franchise history.
They are one of only four teams in NBA history to make the playoffs after losing the first nine games of the season.
Their four rookies Ben Gordon, Andres Nocioni, Luol Deng and Chris Duhon were instrumental in helping them reverse their fortunes.
“I have a hard time believing we are going to collapse. I think we are going to rally and play well,” Skiles said.
Like Chicago, Boston also lost their season series 2-1 to their first round opponent, Indian Pacers.
The Pacers, of course, will be without All-Star Ron Artest who is still suspended after punching several Detroit fans in a regular season brawl.
The Celtics explosive offense is led by Paul Pierce who averaged 21.6 points per game. Pierce is backed up by Antoine Walker (19.1ppg) and Ricky Davis (16.0ppg) while guard Gary Payton quarterbacks the offense.
The return of the upstart Bulls and Wizards to the postseason has coincided with a shortage of playoff star power.
Kobe Bryant first season as a solo superstar did not go as planned as the Los Angeles Lakers are out of the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Superstars Kevin Garnett and LeBron James also did not get into the post-season.
Two of the league’s biggest market teams, the Lakers and New York Knicks, did not make the playoffs together for the first time since 1976.
Not having a Los Angeles team in the playoffs could also hurt TV ratings.
