When the Bulls faced the top-seeded Boston Celtics in the first round of their postseason series, they dominated the first two games. They demolished the C's spirit and absorbed the entire vitality of the TD Garden crowd as they opened the series with a 2-0 lead heading home to the United Centre.
But, in what could have been a series-clinching win, Chicago mishandled their opportunities to advance and wasted a 2-0 lead. As Rajon Rondo, the driving force behind the Bulls' series lead with 11.5 points and 11.0 assists, suffered a fractured right thumb, the Wind City team stumbled in front of the Celtics for the next four games, eventually leading to a humiliating playoff elimination.
Up to this day, many Bulls fans remain annoyed about this failed playoff chance. There were “what ifs” and possibilities that were formed within their mind if they only managed to beat Boston in an upset.
But Rajon himself couldn't ask for a better outcome than what truly happened in reality.
Karma for the mistreatments
In his appearance on the View From the Rafters podcast, Rondo felt vindicated about the Bulls’ postseason collapse that year.
For Rajon, he believes that the team's playoff exit amid early series advantage served up to be “karma” for what the franchise did to him during the regular season.
"I got benched for almost 20 games that year, we turned around a little bit going into the playoffs, then I'm back in the starting lineup. For me, that was my motivation, like, 'You guys want to bench me? I'mma show you.' I ended up trying to do my best as I could possibly do. We win the first two games, I got hurt, we don't win another game. So for me, that was kind of like their karma on how they treated me versus me not being able to feel the destiny as far as me winning and beating the Celtics," Rajon said.
A painful ending to the Bulls’ upside-down season
Rondo's transition to the Chicago Bulls was extremely unfair. As the franchise signed him in the summer before the season, he expected nothing but a nice relationship, but it turned out to be a horrible union. He was benched for several games, argued with Fred Hoiberg and the team's coaching staff, and then clashed with Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler about the team's direction and leadership.
In the end, Bulls fans can only truly imagine the possibilities of that season's squad, especially if they managed to enter the second round. Amid the high promise it possesses, it went on to become an intriguing yet unusual collection of talents in the team's franchise history.
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