Like most of the basketball world, Dwyane Wade didn’t expect the Chicago Bulls to join select company in the 2017 NBA playoffs.
The Bulls guard told reporters Thursday he’s pleasantly surprised Chicago leads the Celtics 2-0 in their first-round series, especially since both games took place at TD Garden in Boston. The Bulls became just the second No. 8 seed in NBA history to win the first two games of its opening series on the road, joining the 1993 Los Angeles Lakers.
“I’m going to lie?” Wade said, per ESPN’s Nick Friedell. “We’re a confident team, but you don’t think you’re going into Boston and get two. You’re just trying to get one, that’s your focus. But once you’ve got that one, now it’s just another game. Now you got to try and get the next one. But coming in, I didn’t say, ‘Hey, we’re going to be up 2-0 on Boston.’ No one thought that. But we are in this position and we’ve earned it.
“I’ve been in the league 14 years. I’ve never been in this situation, being an eighth seed, or being a lower seed, and have won the first two games on the road. So this is uncharted waters for all of us. But what we can do is what we’ve started to do. And that’s focus on each possession, focus on each play, try to win those.”
After taking a 2-0 lead in 1993, the Lakers dropped the next three games to the Phoenix Suns and promptly exited that year’s NBA playoffs, just as most expected.
The Bulls and Celtics will meet again Friday in Game 3 at United Center in Chicago.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
