1. Vucevic Revenge Game
Nikola Vucevic did not have to wait long for a Revenge Game against the Chicago Bulls. In his third game with the Celtics, Vucevic dropped his second double-double of his Boston career finishing with 19 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks on 7-12 shooting from the field and 4-5 from three.
On offense, Vucevic was able to show off his range in this game, primarily on the catch and shoot. Chicago would send two defenders to Payton Pritchard when Boston would run the pick and roll. This led
Vucevic wide open from three and he was able to knock them down from both the top of the three point line and even from the corner. This makes me excited for the future of the Celtics offense when Jayson Tatum comes back and with lineups that can space the floor from every position.
2. 6MOTY Payton Pritchard
The best version of Payton Pritchard in my mind is when he is coming off the bench and playing freely. This is what he was able to do against the Bulls, finishing with 26 points, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals on 11-18 shooting from the field and 3-8 from three. There’s no chance he qualifies, but Pritchard is the best 6th Man in the league and the lineups they run with him and Vucevic coming in the game first have looked good.
The first half is primarily where we saw Pritchard have the biggest impact on this game. In the first quarter, Pritchard had 10 points on 4-5 shooting. When he checked into the game, he made an immediate impact on the Celtics offense with his ability to get into the paint and shoot it from deep. Pritchard was able to make some highlight reel plays in this quarter, including his patented buzzer beater on a tough midrange jumper.
The second quarter saw more aggression in the midrange game when it came to his offense. He was able to get inside and attack Nick Richards on defense, finishing with some impressive touch.
3. Jaylen Brown Made It Look Easy
It’s getting hard to come up with new ways to talk about how great Jaylen Brown has been this season. In this game he made light work of the Chicago Bulls, finishing with 24 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists on 9-20 shooting. With the Bulls lack of real defenders, Brown was able to bully them all night long on the offensive end and he didn’t even have to be the number one scoring option.
A lot of Brown’s scoring came in the first half where he finished with 18 of his 24 points. The best part about his performance tonight is the way he was able to beat Chicago’s defense. Patrick Williams was his primary defender to begin the game and Brown shot over him like it was an open gym. Jaden Ivey tried his best the rest of the first half but Brown was able to use his physicality to any spot he wanted on the court and finish with relative ease.
4. Sam Hauser Return
It is so nice to have Sam Hauser back on this Celtics team. Coming into this game Boston was 29th in scoring offense (103.6 PPG) and shot 29% from three point range in their last 4 games. Hauser being out for 3 out of the 4 games was a huge loss and it showed tonight when he finished with 12 points on 4-7 shooting from three.
Hauser’s ability to catch and shoot wide open threes is just another level to any other player on this team. When he is hitting his shots like tonight, Boston can blow out teams in a hurry. All of his threes in this game came on the catch and shoot whether it was in the motion of the offense or on the fast break. He single handedly made the Celtics offense more dynamic and I would credit his return to being a contributor to the Celtics shooting 40% from three in this game.
5. Jordan Walsh Energy on Both Ends
The most surprising performance of the night for me had to be the incredible game that Jordan Walsh had. Walsh finished with 16 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks on 7-12 shooting. This game showed flashes to his play earlier in the season where he was in the Celtics starting lineup.
Walsh’s defense was huge in this game as the Bulls were already struggling to defend the Celtics on the other end, then they had to deal with Jordan hounding them. Walsh was disrupting the passing lanes and even got old friend Anfernee Simons on a steal. The blocks showed his quick instincts on defense and his ability to recover when he is a step behind on a drive or second chance opportunity.
On the offensive end, Walsh was putting on a dunk contest of his own this close to All-Star Weekend. Outside of one three, Walsh did a lot of his work in this paint when it came to getting his buckets. He was able to finish some nice layups at the rim but he showed aggression with his dunking ability. Walsh had 4 dunks in this game where he was able to finish on put-backs or create plays on his own.
6. Derrick White Passing
Since becoming the primary point guard for the Celtics, Derrick White’s playmaking ability has been on full display. In his last five games since Payton Pritchard moved to the bench, White is averaging 6.8 assists a night including 9 assists in this matchup. This has been huge for the Celtics because White can still be a contributor on offense even without scoring the ball. This chart shows the assist network of who got all of White’s assists. He was able to spread the wealth around to everyone and created 23 points with his passing alone.
Almost all of Derrick White’s assists came on catch and shoot threes outside of a fey ball handw passes to Neemias Queta under the basket and a cross court heave to Baylor Scheierman for a layup. I really think White being the primary ball handler for this team is huge. It takes pressure off of him as a scorer and it allows Pritchard to cook with the second unit.
7. First Half Dominance
The Boston Celtics absolutely dominated the Chicago Bulls in this game and game was basically over at halftime. This was due to the Celtics red hot shooting in the first half that got them out to some huge runs. In the first quarter, the Celtics shot 14-26 (54%) from the field and 6-11 (55%) from three, outscoring Chicago 36-17. They got out to an 11-2 run midway through the quarter but it got even better once the second quarter came.
Boston shot an insane 14-22 (64%) from the field and 4-8 (50%) from three. This was a part of a bigger run for the Celtics, as from the 2:26 mark of the first quarter to the 5:50 mark of the second quarter, Boston rattled off a 35-10 scoring run. This blew the game wide open and Boston was able to rattle off another small 12-3 run at the end of the second quarter. Boston outscored Chicago 36-17 in the quarter and went into the half up 72-44.
8. Incredible Ball Movement
The Celtics finished with 29 assists on the night and Boston was able to show off a ton of impressive team basketball. My favorite assist of the night came on a play at the 3:41 mark of the second quarter. It started with Vucevic finding Jordan Walsh cutting to the basket. Walsh then found Hugo Gonzalez in the corner who swung it to Derrick White, who threw it back to Vucevic for three.
The Celtics showed more of their ball movement in the third quarter when they were able to use their ball movement around the perimeter to get Baylor Scheierman a wide open three in the corner.
Finally, I wanted to highlight Vucevic’s passing because its something that I am still surprised about. With time running low on the shot clock, Ron Harper Jr threw a grenade to Vucevic to try and make something happen. Luckily, he found Walsh cutting to the basket and he was able to finish it with a slam.
9. Future of the double big lineups
With Sam Hauser out of the lineup, Joe Mazzulla was running a double big lineup with Luka Garza and Neemias Queta. On Sunday, the Celtics replaced Garza with Baylor Scheierman while tonight with Hauser returning, the Celtics had him and Scheierman in the starting lineup against the Bulls. With the addition of Vucevic, it made me wonder if Mazzulla would think about running it in the future. I asked him in the postgame press conference and he started out by saying “The only thing we know is that we don’t know anything.” He went on to say “we just have to be ready to adjust to our opponents and what gives us the best chance to win…we have versatility and the ability to play a bunch of different ways and whatever gives us the best chance to win.”
The double big lineup of Garza and Queta looked a little clunky when it was out there but it could look different with Vucevic replacing Garza. It would depend on the matchup for sure, but in these instances having the spacing of Vucevic on offense with Queta on defense, could be a deadly combination.
10. I Feel Bad For Anfernee Simons
Watching the Celtics dominate the Bulls in this game made me feel really bad for the situation Anfernee Simons has found himself in. For years, he was on a tanking Portland Trail Blazers team that had no direction and was just otld to go out there and hoop. Then at the start of this season he gets traded to the Celtics and gets to experience a winning organization for the first time. He is in a smaller role, but he is thriving as a sixth man and looks to be finding comfort on Boston. All is well until he is traded to the Chicago Bulls for Nikola Vucevic and he has found himself on another tanking team in the same situation that he was in when he was on the Trail Blazers.
I hope as a free agent this year Simons can find his way on to a good organization. He is a guy with structure around him, can be a solid contributor to a good team. His defense might not be the best but he He played okay in his first game back in Boston but Chicago was getting destroyed. There is a chance he could sign back with the Celtics in the offseason. He said in an interview at shoot around that he enjoyed his time in Boston could see himself returning here “for sure down the line.” I would not be opposed to that. Either way, I’m wishing nothing but the best for Simons moving forward in his NBA career.
