Everything you need to know about the Celtics crushing loss at the hands of the Chicago Bulls, with BSJ insight and analysis:
The Celtics struggled a little out of the gate, which is probably to be expected after that double-overtime game in Washington. At the same time, Chicago came out scorching hot, hitting their first five 3-pointers of the game. Things leveled off after that behind Jaylen Brown’s scorching hot performance that built Boston’s lead up to 19. The building was rocking, guys were laughing on the bench, and the Celtics were on their way to their first home win of the season.
And then...
The Celtics were outscored 39-11 in the fourth quarter. Everything fell apart. And the Celtics went from up 14 to down 14 in the span of 12 minutes, earning even more boos from the TD Garden fans who still have yet to see a win.
HEADLINES
What. A. Collapse. OK, sure, no lead is safe in the NBA. Being up 19 in the third quarter is relatively meaningless in a world where a few 3-pointers can change the entire dynamic of a game. So the Celtics losing this game to a Bulls team off to a now 6-1 start is not the shocking thing. It’s that the Celtics totally and thoroughly soiled themselves. This was a lactose intolerant person chugging a gallon of milk ugly.
"I think it was probably towards the end of the third. Not playing as hard as we were, starting to relax,” Ime Udoka said. “Got a little cute, careless ... We're scoring well but started giving up too many baskets in transition. It's a good lesson learned. Some nights you deserve to win. Like I felt in Washington, some nights you deserve to lose when you don't take the game seriously. We lost our composure a little bit when they started blitzing Jayson. But overall, I think that we relaxed and got lazy. Acted like the game was over."
On the positive side, Jaylen bounced back: This is total lipstick on a pig but it’s relevant. After a pattern of stinkers after playing big minutes in overtime games, Brown came back with a great performance scoring 28 points on 10-18 shooting. Probably would have been nice to have him shoot more than twice in the fourth.
TURNING POINT
The Bulls had already whipped off 7 points of their massive fourth-quarter run when Ime Udoka called a timeout still up by 7. Instead of settling down, the barrage continued, with Zach LaVine scoring the team’s next 7 points and Ayo Dosunmu capping it off with a 3-pointer to give Chicago a lead. The teams went back and forth briefly after that, but Chicago’s march felt inevitable at that point.
SECOND GUESS
There’s only so much a coach can do from the sidelines, but Udoka has to find a way to calm this mess down before it gets out of control. Maybe he could have drawn up some specific plays to take advantage of the Bulls' defensive focus on Jayson Tatum by using him as a decoy or a pick-setter. If he doesn't have those plays right now, he should, because teams are not going to stop loading up on them.
FOUR UP:
Jaylen Brown: 28 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and he was the only regular rotation player to have a positive +/- (+1). This should have been a fun celebration for Brown, breaking his up-and-down start to the season.
Al Horford: He continues to play very good defense for the Celtics and he hit some big shots, finishing with 20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and a block. He was 3-7 from 3, which is a nice recovery from deep. He, like everyone, had a rough fourth quarter with a couple of ugly turnovers.
Marcus Smart: He was 3-5 from deep, scored 16 points and had 4 steals. The big problem with Smart is the no assists.
This leads me to a point I’ve been making recently: Smart’s role on this team as the starting point guard is really not much different from his role in the past.
“There's only so much I can do without the ball in my hands, I'm just standing in the corner,” Smart said after the game. “I do everything I can on the other end to try to combat that. I try to talk, I try to make plays, get those guys the ball where they need it, where they want it.”
Smart has had a tough start to the season for various reasons. I know I have Smart in the “up” category here because he had a generally good game, but man I’m getting generally bad vibes here.
Jayson Tatum (quarters 1-3): Through three quarters, Tatum was shooting 50% and had 18 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. Tatum and Brown were a combined 17-30 from the field and for the first time in a while, it looked like a good one-two punch from Boston’s two best players would carry them to a big win over a hot Bulls team currently sitting at the top of the conference.
THREE DOWN
Jayson Tatum (quarter 4): And then Tatum went 1-8 from the field in the fourth quarter with no free throw attempts. He looked rushed at times, and if he’s going to be targeted that much by the defense, then he has to make the smart plays and give up the ball and then cut to get it back.
Dennis Schroder: Tough overall shooting night for Schroder, though he did lead the team with 5 assists, all of which came in the first half.
Josh Richardson: He was on the floor, presumably, because of his defense but he was a -29 in the second half, almost entirely in the fourth quarter. Udoka probably could have gone with a better option at some point.
ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
This feels like there’s a little teetering going on.
Smart was pretty direct about the fourth-quarter collapse, lamenting the lack of control he has over the offense in the final minutes.
“Every team knows we are trying to go to Jayson and Jaylen and every team is programmed and studies to stop Jayson and Jaylen,” Smart said. “I think everybody's scouting report is to make those guys try to pass the ball. They don't want to pass the ball and that's something that they're going to learn.
“They're still learning and we're proud of the progress they are making but they are going to have to make another step and find ways to not only create for themselves but create for others on this team, to open up the court for them later in the game where they don't always have to take those tough shots or take tough matchups when they do get the 1-on-1 and see a trap. Just reading that. It's something that we've been asking for them to do and they're learning. We just got to continue to help those guys do that and to help our team.”
Yeesh.
Let me start with this: Maybe he’s right? If giving the ball to Tatum and Brown to initiate the offense isn’t working, why not let Smart start the offense at the top of the key and then run some sets to free them up?
But beyond that, it’s pretty clear that the frustration is setting in, at least for Smart. Neither Brown nor Tatum spoke to the media, something they can avoid in this era of interview rooms and no locker room access. So neither could respond to Smart and say whether they felt he was right or wrong.
Losses early in the season with a new coach, new key role players, and new responsibilities for the main guys are understandable. The extra mustard the C’s are putting on these L’s is a bit much.
I don’t want to overreact, and maybe some of this is just heat of the moment stuff, but something feels off. Of course, with no access to the locker room, I don’t have the full context of the situation to know for sure. There is definitely frustration across the board. I just wonder if it’s getting a little deeper.