No better way to rebound from a tough loss than getting a dominant win against a struggling team.
The Boston Celtics took an early 20-point lead in the second quarter against the recently overhauled and undermanned Chicago Bulls and never looked back, finishing the game with a 124-105 win and Gino Time on Bob Cousy bobblehead night.
The win is Boston’s sixth victory in its last seven games and Chicago’s sixth loss in a row.
In addition to trading away Ayo Dosunmu, Coby White and Nikola Vučević at the
deadline, Chicago was also missing Zach Collins, Josh Giddey, Tre Jones, Isaac Okoro, Jalen Smith and Noa Essengue, who were all injured and inactive.
The Bulls started Collin Sexton, Patrick Williams and Matas Buzelis, as well as former Celtics Guerschon Yabusele and Anfernee Simons — who scored a lackluster 7 points on 33.3% shooting from the field in his return to Boston.
Despite being listed on the Celtics’ injury report yesterday, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta both started and played solid minutes alongside fellow starters Jaylen Brown, Derrick White and Baylor Scheierman.
Jayson Tatum was the only inactive Celtic.
Boston got off to an awkward start with a Neemias Queta post-up that resulted in a turnover, but Jaylen Brown brought a steady hand, scoring 10 of the Celtics’ first 22 points on a combination of midrange shots and three-pointers that kept the offense running.
While Boston allowed Chicago to shoot 62.5% from three-point range over the first quarter, with the Bulls’ first four attempts all falling, the Celtics won the margins early by forcing four turnovers and putting up five more shots.
A big part of that was the spark off the bench provided by Payton Pritchard, who came into the game and immediately hit a long three-pointer from the top of the key and ended the quarter with a beautiful driving shot, and Hugo Gonzalez, who drew an illegal screen on one of his first defensive plays.
The Celtics ended the first quarter with a nine-point lead, but blew the game apart with an 18-4 start to the second quarter led by Payton Pritchard, who ended the half with 16 points and only one missed shot.
The second quarter also saw Nikola Vučević and Jordan Walsh come alive.
Vučević started slow, as he was blocked on his first shot attempt and missed a wide open shot following an up-and-under move that completely lost his defender in the first quarter. However, by the end of the half, Vučević had 10 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal on 50% shooting (4/8) from the field and 2/3 shooting from three-point range. On one play near the end of the second quarter, he had the ball at the top of the key, passed it away and ended up getting it back for an open three-pointer due to spacing created via ball movement.
Walsh scored 7 points on 3/4 shooting over the second quarter, including hitting on an and-1 where Vučević found him cutting to the rim. The energy he brought to the court also manifested in two steals by the half. One steal led to a breakaway dunk for Walsh and another led to an open Vučević three-pointer.
The Celtics rolled into the half with 72 points and a 28-point lead, the second-highest halftime lead of the season.
They spent the rest of the game on cruise control, maintaining a 20-30 point lead over the Bulls throughout the third and fourth quarters.
Over the second half, Vučević got even more run — he ended with 26 minutes played compared to 14 minutes for Neemias Queta — and played strong. He finished the game with another double-double, recording 19 points on 80% shooting (4/5) from three-point range, as well as 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks in his first game against his former team. While questions remain about his defense, his impact was felt everywhere on the offensive end of the court tonight.
Walsh also continued his energetic start and finished the game with 16 points, 3 steals and 1 block. While Baylor Scheierman started, Walsh set the tone early and was awarded for his efforts, finishing with 29 minutes played — six more than Scheierman got. He may have some chemistry brewing with Vučević, too, as the big man assisted on two of his cuts to the rim.
Payton Pritchard led the team in scoring with 26 points off the bench and finished second in assists behind Derrick White, with 8 on the night. It marked the fourth of five games he has started off the bench this season where he has scored at least 20 points.
Pritchard, Vučević and Walsh scored all 61 of the bench’s points for the night, only 2 points less than the starters scored as a whole.
Jaylen Brown continued tearing apart the Bulls’ defense in the third quarter but slowed down in the fourth when his shots stopped dropping. He clocked out before the halfway mark of the fourth quarter and finished with 24 points.
With no games left to play this week and All-Star Weekend beginning Feb. 13, the Celtics will have eight days to rest before facing Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors at 10 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 19, at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Over the weekend, Ron Harper Jr. will participate in the Castrol Rising Stars mini-tournament on Friday, Feb. 13. He will also play in the Kia Shooting Stars competition on Team Harper with his father, five-time champion Ron Harper Sr., and brother, San Antonio Spurs rookie Dylan Harper, on Saturday, Feb. 14.
Jaylen Brown will start for Team USA Stripes in the All-Star Game — which will feature a round-robin tournament between two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players over four 12-minute games — on Sunday, Feb. 15.
