Green's hot start sets tone for Celtics in 104-95 Game 4 win over Bulls

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CHICAGO –  Gerald Green was inserted in the Boston Celtics' starting lineup to help create better spacing for his teammates, but still being a viable option they could turn to, you know, just in case they needed a basket here and there.
 
Green wasn’t just a warm body moving about on the floor.
 
He was the one starter – not Isaiah Thomas, not Al Horford, not Avery Bradley or Jae Crowder – whose play set the tone in Boston’s 104-95 Game 4 win over Chicago.
 
Green finished with 18 points, including a jacuzzi-hot start in which he had 16 points in the first half as Boston's lead surged to as much as 20 points.
 
With the win, Boston has tied the best-of-seven series at two games apiece and regained home court advantage in this series.
 
Isaiah Thomas led all Celtics with 33 points along with seven assists. Al Horford had a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds along with four assists.
 
Meanwhile the Bulls were led by Jimmy Butler’s 33 points with Dwyane Wade chipping in with 11 points and six rebounds.
 
After Chicago came within 81-76, Thomas scored five straight that led to a Bulls time-out with 9:01 to play and Boston back on top by double digits (86-76).
 
Chicago continued to battle back, but every Bulls surge was met by an even stronger one by Boston.
 
After a solid first half by Boston, the Bulls opened the third quarter with a 7-2 run to come within 59-53. But a dunk by Green followed by a driving lay-up by Jae Crowder made it a double-digit game again.
 
The momentum was short-lived for the Celtics as the Bulls continued to chip away at their lead which stood at 53-58 following a 3-pointer by Isaiah Canaan with 7:41 to play in the quarter.
 
Prior to his 3-ball, Canaan drew an offensive foul against Isaiah Thomas which gave the Celtics’ best player four personal fouls for the game.
 
Chicago continued to close the gap, and eventually went ahead 65-63 on a lay-up by Robin Lopez.
 
Thomas, who was on the bench due to foul trouble, returned to the floor and scored four straight to put the Celtics back on top 67-65 which led to a time-out by the Bulls with 3:39 to play in the third quarter.
 
Boston would score 12 straight to lead 75-65 before the third quarter ended with the Celtics ahead 79-70.
 
The down-to-the-wire finish was very different from how the game started.
 
Boston began tonight’s Game 4 matchup against Chicago with a 14-4 run, similar to what they did in Game 3. And just like Game 3, Boston continued to pull ahead in the first quarter which ended with the Celtics ahead 30-18.
 
But there was a distinct difference in Game 4.
 
Butler, who had 14 points on 7-for-21 shooting in Game 3, was noticeably more aggressive looking for his shot. And it resulted in him getting to line a lot. In fact, he had more free throw attempts in the first quarter (8) than the entire Celtics team (7). For the game, Butler had 23 free throw attempts which ranks third all-time among Celtics opponents in the playoffs.
 
But it didn’t matter.
 
Because even though Boston wasn’t getting to the line, they were getting essentially whatever else they wanted to offensively.  
 
In the first quarter, they shot better than 50 percent from the field as part of a commanding start.
 
The second quarter saw Boston’s control of the game remain strong as the Celtics pulled ahead by as many as 20 points on multiple occasions.
 
And the intensity of the game really picked up after Marcus Smart and Butler got into a little dust-up in the second quarter that led to both players being whistled for technical fouls.
 
The incident fired up the Bulls initially, but not enough to where Boston’s lead in the first half was seriously threatened.

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