The first round of the NBA playoffs ended Sunday, and though the race to the championship has just begun, the first-round matchup between the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls might have been one of the best playoff series ever.

How does this stack up against some of the other great series? Many will immediately think of the historical matchups between the Lakers and Celtics back in the 1980s, and the battles between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Others might think of the ’90s between the Pacers and the Knicks and the clutch shooting of Reggie Miller. People might even think more recently of the Mavericks and the Spurs in 2006; however, I feel what we just witnessed over the past few weeks is the greatest playoff series of them all.

The seven overtimes during the series is an NBA playoff record. The number of lead changes and ties between the two teams? That’s a record, too. If there was a way to measure drama and suspense, this series would have set the record for that as well.

Each game, excluding games three and seven, was decided by three points or fewer.

With all these records set during this series, along with how close each game was, it is hard to argue that this was not the greatest playoff series ever.

People might say because it was a first round match-up and not deeper into the playoffs, it isn’t the best ever. Also, the Celtics had injuries to key players such as Kevin Garnett who were not able to participate in the series.

I don’t think that should matter, though.

Clearly, a healthy Garnett would have changed the series, but if you take the series for what it was, it had everything a fan could ask for.

If this was not the greatest playoff series of all time, it ranks very high on the list as one of the best.

As a fan, this was one of the most entertaining series I have ever witnessed. Regardless, this series will be talked about for a long time and it is a shame it had to end.

-James Roth is a journalism senior.