Boston Celtics: 5 Takeaways From Game 3 Victory

Rebounding Still An Issue

The Boston Celtics may have won the game, but they got out-rebounded again. Rebounding has been a major issue throughout the series, specifically in Game 1.

On the defensive glass, the Celtics grabbed 30 rebounds to the Bulls’ 37. On the offensive glass, which has been the biggest issue in the series, the Bulls doubled up the Celtics by grabbing 15 offensive rebounds compared to the Celtics’ seven.

Lopez has looked unstoppable at times during this series and had a solid game on Friday, scoring 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting and grabbing four offensive rebounds. His averages for the series are 14.7 points and 5.3 offensive rebounds per game.

Horford simply isn’t the answer to containing Lopez, but in reality, the Celtics just don’t have the size to compete with him.

With the lineup change, Stevens was betting on the Celtics being able to simply outshoot the Bulls and that worked in Game 3. However, the Celtics aren’t going to shoot 45.9 percent from behind the arc every game, and the rebounding issues are concerning.

There’s no clear answer to this problem on the offensive glass. Throwing Tyler Zeller some minutes could help, or it could not, there isn’t enough of a sample size to determine if he would be effective.

However, if the Celtics get through this series, they will need to figure out how to contain opposing players on the offensive glass if they want to succeed in the postseason.