Two days after the Boston Celtics suffered their sixth lack of the NBA season by the hands of the Chicago Bulls, they took the court docket in Chicago with an opportunity for revenge. This time, they left nothing on the desk. The Celtics dominated Chicago within the paint and rode a powerful third quarter to a snug win over their Japanese Convention foes, 123-98.
Jayson Tatum was the story tonight, completely dominating the Bulls on each degree. He led all scorers with 43 factors on the evening, capturing 16-of-24 from the sector (9-of-15 from three), and he recorded a recorded a ridiculous triple-double within the course of, ending with 16 rebounds and 10 assists. He was the second participant in NBA historical past to file no less than 40-15-10 with 9 made threes (James Harden, 2016). Kristaps Porzingis added an environment friendly 22 factors, and Jaylen Brown added 19. In the meantime, the Bulls struggled to create offense, capturing 38% from the sector and 33% from three-point vary.
The Celtics didn’t appear to be they’d have a better path tonight than they did in Thursday loss. After cashing in on 19 threes final time round, the Bulls continued their sizzling outdoors capturing, pulling down six within the first quarter on heavy quantity (13 makes an attempt). Boston aided them alongside by struggling closely on their very own makes an attempt from deep. They linked on simply one among their first six makes an attempt and completed 3-of-10 for the quarter. Chicago shot poorly from contained in the arc, nonetheless, headlined by a number of missed dunks. The 2 groups have been tied after one, 28-28.
The Bulls’ sizzling capturing started to chill within the second quarter. They adopted their early barrage with simply three three-pointers within the second body, and alongside their continued struggles on the rim, they started to lose their grip because the time ticked ahead. With Tatum and Brown each cooking — they mixed for 31 first half factors — the Celtics surged forward. They took a seven-point lead into the halftime break, 61-54.
The lacking ingredient for the Celtics within the first half was three-point capturing. They opened the sport on a chilly spell and it endured for the rest of the half. As play resumed within the third quarter, although, they lastly began to discover a little bit of a rhythm. Their lead held simply in need of the 10-point threshold for a lot of the quarter, as their three-point share inched into some semblance of respectability.
It was contained in the arc the place the Celtics earned their bread, nonetheless. They continued to assault Chicago relentlessly contained in the paint, piling up 48 factors within the paint by means of three quarters of play. Main the way in which was an enormous effort from Tatum, scoring 18 factors to crack 30 for the sport earlier than the fourth quarter started. Chicago had no reply for the onslaught, and the Boston lead surged to a recreation excessive 16 because the quarter drew to an in depth. The Celtics led 93-77 coming into the ultimate quarter.
The one drama remaining within the fourth quarter was whether or not or not Tatum would file the lone help he wanted to finish his triple-double. He began the body on the bench, and the Celtics rattled off an 11-2 run to surpass a 20-point benefit over the Bulls, calling into doubt whether or not Tatum would even return to the court docket to get an opportunity. Tatum in the end did return, and put an exclamation level on his stellar evening — he picked up the help to complete off the triple-double, and secured the primary 40-15-10 recreation in Celtics historical past within the course of.
Subsequent up, the Celtics will journey to Orlando for a showdown with the injury-diminished Magic at 7 PM EST on NBC Sports activities Boston.
