The Celtics went all-in in their attempt to reach the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals.
Following a heartbreaking loss to the Orlando Magic last week, the Boston Celtics’ chances in the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament relied on a convincing win over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night — their final game of the tournament’s group round. What is the goal? A win of at least 23 points would put them in position to win their group, assuming the Brooklyn Nets win their game against the Toronto Raptors. The Celtics did just that, defeating the Bulls by a score of 27 points and putting their tournament fate in the hands of the Nets.
Jaylen Brown led the team in scoring for the evening, scoring 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting from the field. Jayson Tatum scored 21 points, while the Celtics’ backups — possibly driven by the $500,000 tournament prize — delivered a lively 29 points collectively. DeMar DeRozan and Coby White each scored 29 points for Chicago, but Zach LaVine struggled to only two points on 1-of-9 shooting.
Early on, the speed favored the Celtics – a lively, fast-paced game that provided plenty of opportunities for Boston to run in transition, move the ball, and create open threes. An early standoff gave way to a seemingly effortless 17-3 Boston blitz, and the Celtics burned the nets in the first quarter, shooting 8-of-16 from long. They led the Bulls 31-20 at the half, powered by Brown’s nine points.
As the second quarter began, the Celtics were aided by a balanced offensive onslaught. They got off to a solid start, with chippy efforts from Al Horford, Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet, and Dalano Banton indicating they’d like to be playing in Las Vegas next week. With little over three minutes remaining in the half, Horford’s second three-pointer of the afternoon extended the margin to 20 points, bringing them closer to the all-important +23 point differential. Their second consecutive 30-point quarter kept them on track, and they led Chicago by 19 points at halftime, 69-50.
The Bulls were dealt an injury scare early in the third quarter when DeRozan stepped on Holiday’s foot on a drive to the basket and seemed to twist his ankle. DeRozan returned to the game after the injury, but appeared to be struggling on subsequent possessions, limping even after drawing a foul on White and hitting on a pair of free throws.
Even with DeRozan still on the field, Chicago did not appear like a club from the same area code as Boston tonight. The Celtics extended their lead, passing the magical 23-point mark and getting closer to 30 as the quarter progressed. Brown led the way, overcoming a recent string of underwhelming outings to lead the Boston offense for the evening. He matched his highest scoring effort in the previous seven games through three quarters, with 26 points, and the Celtics led by 29 points entering the fourth quarter, 97-68.
Despite the huge lead, Joe Mazzulla decided to keep the starters in the game for the fourth quarter with the IST outcome still in doubt. With a three by Banton, the Celtics reached 100 points, but the drama came from the Celtics’ lead, which had shrunk to 25 points after a few early Chicago buckets. To be sure, it was a one-of-a-kind show for a November bash.
It was just going to become stranger as time passed. Mazzulla chose to begin purposely fouling Bulls center Andre Drummond with just under eight minutes remaining in regulation, putting the lifetime 48% free throw shooter on the line in an attempt to improve their IST standing. The gamble paid off: Drummond made just 1-of-6 from the free throw line, and the Celtics extended their lead back to 30 points as the game came to a close. They were unable to connect enough stops to move any further, leaving the final tally.
The Celtics will host the Philadelphia 76ers in their third meeting of the new NBA season this Friday at 7:30 PM EST on ESPN.