The Chicago Bulls played without PG Rajon Rondo Friday night who is out indefinitely due to a broken thumb. Without him, the Bulls looked lost on offense, with little flow to their game.

The Boston Celtics, looked like a number one seed in the second half as it outscored Chicago, 60-46, and won handily, 104-87.  Boston now trails the Bulls 2-1 in the first-round series, but clearly, this doesn’t look like the Bulls team that won the first two games in Boston.

The Bulls had 8 assists going into the fourth quarter, and the offense was sputtering. Rondo sat the bench calling out support, apparently to no avail.  Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade shot a combined 13-39 in this game, and that is one of the reasons why Boston was able to come away the needed W.

The Celts had good scoring from its starters. Al Horford had 18 points and 8 rebounds. Isaiah Thomas had 16 points. Avery Bradley had four big treys for 15 points. The team’s passing resembled the Celtics of yesteryear.  The Celtics had 34 assists to the Bulls 14.

Dwyane Wade had 18 points and made some key shots in the 2nd quarter to bring the Bulls back into the game, which was getting away from them. Chicago trailed 44-41 and the Bulls had a good 2nd quarter despite Butler only scoring two points in the half.

The Bulls hit for 39.3% from the field for the game. And, their three points percentage was worse: 28.6% on 6-21 attempts. That only partly tells the story.  There was no Rajon Rondo, and the Bulls looked out of sync for most of the game.

This series will go back to Boston. The Bulls have to find another combination or cast up Rondo’s thumb, give him a shot and drag him on the court.