CHICAGO — One more overtime thriller has the Bulls and Celtics headed for a Game 7. Seems only fitting for this series.
Derrick Rose scored 28 points and blocked Rajon Rondo’s potential game-winner, John Salmons scored 35, and the Bulls beat the defending champions 128-127 in triple overtime Thursday night to tie the first-round series at three games apiece.
Ray Allen scored a career playoff-high 51 points for the Celtics, but the series will go back to Boston for Game 7 on Saturday after another classic battle in a series that had already seen its share of drama.
Three of the first five games went to overtime, including one that needed two extra periods. Another came down to the wire in regulation, but this easily trumped them all.
Rondo penetrated and pulled up on the left block with eight seconds left and turned, only to be rejected by Rose. The rookie of the year then missed two free throws with 3.2 seconds remaining, before Rondo launched a harmless heave from beyond midcourt.
“This series is a lot of fun for the fans, the people of Chicago, the people of Boston,” said the Bulls’ Joakim Noah, who delivered the go-ahead three-point play after a steal. “It’s a lot of fun for us, too, playing in environments like this on the big stage. It’s special to be part of this, and I know that it’s a series people will be talking about for a long time.”
Rose added: “It’s crazy, but you got to love it.”
Tied at 123 in the third OT, Noah stole the ball and broke upcourt for a dunk, got fouled by Paul Pierce and hit the free throw with 35.5 seconds remaining. Eddie House quickly answered with a corner jumper, his feet on the 3-point arc, to pull the Celtics within 126-125, but Chicago’s Brad Miller then hit two free throws to get the lead back up to three with 28 seconds left.
A driving Rondo put back his own miss to make it a one-point game, and then he got a break when Kirk Hinrich missed a layup with Rondo’s hand in the cylinder — which would have been goaltending.
Allen was simply spectacular for Boston, finishing three points shy of John Havlicek’s club playoff record and tying the NBA playoff mark with nine 3-pointers — a record he already shared with Vince Carter (2001) and Rex Chapman (1997).
“It’s very bittersweet,” Allen said. “There’s nothing to really talk about anymore. We lost and we had the agony that it wasn’t enough.”
