BSJ Game Report: Celtics 138, Bulls 129 - Pritchard, Tatum combine for 64 to hold off Bulls

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Bulls, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

Boston was up nine after a frantic first quarter behind 12 points from Jayson Tatum & perfect 3-point shooting (3-3) from Jaylen Brown. The teams traded runs in the second quarter with the Bulls evening the game thanks to Nikola Vucevic’s four-straight 3-pointers. Vucevic continued his heater in the third but Tatum’s 13 gave Boston a one-point lead. Payton Pritchard got lava-hot in the fourth to give Boston a lead, which they held onto down the stretch.

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Holy fourth quarter, Payton Pritchard: We’ll all hear how he scored 19 in the fourth quarter, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. He did it in 4:47.

“He’s a complete player,” Joe Mazzulla said. “I know it sounds weird, but he's one of the best three-level scorers that I've seen, especially for his size, and he's just a high-level competitor.”

- Superstar Jayson Tatum: The Pritchard minutes in the fourth were the best non-Tatum minutes of the night. Prior to that, Tatum was the best thing going for Boston. I thought this was going to come down to Tatum carrying the Celtics like he had for the entire game. He had 32 through three quarters and was a team-best +11.

- Still alive for the NBA Cup: The Celtics tacked on a late 3-pointer by Sam Hauser to add nine to their point differential, so they finish pool play 3-1 and +23. I won’t bore you with the full breakdown, but Boston needs help to get in. If the Knicks beat Orlando, Boston is very likely out unless the Magic lose by 38. If Orlando wins, then they need Milwaukee to beat Detroit by six or Detroit to beat Milwaukee by seven.

TURNING POINT 

It was 102-98 Bulls when Pritchard hit his first 3-pointer of the fourth quarter. By the time he’d hit his fifth, it was 119-112 Boston. All of this was done with Tatum on the bench. 

THINGS I LIKED

- Pritchard keeping Boston alive: Not just his shooting, but he made some big-time defensive plays and he grabbed some big rebounds. He keeps doing things he probably shouldn’t be doing at his size, but his heart is incredible. 

- Tatum carrying the C’s: There were long stretches where Boston looked dead and then Tatum just decided to attack and keep the game close. He scored 35 points on just 18 shots and eight 3-pointers, which means he was attacking much more than usual. He got to the line 10 times, taking advantage of some bad Chicago defense. 

- Derrick White: Left the game with a sore right foot but told Mazzulla after the game that he’d be fine. It probably opened the door for the Pritchard minutes, but the shame of it is that White was having a typical do-it-all night with 16 points (6-10 fg, 4-8 3pt), six rebounds, and four assists.

- Jrue Holiday’s finish: There's no doubt he’s been slumping, but he was 3-3 in the fourth quarter, including a big 3-pointer and a tip-in of a Jaylen Brown airball with :21 left. He had five points and a block in the last two minutes. 

- This Jaylen Brown dunk: 

Absolutely vicious. He had an otherwise fine game with 21 points, four assists and two rebounds. 

THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE

- The defense: There were stretches where it was good, but I’d say it was awful about 75% of the game. It started out great, Jayson Tatum played some great defense in the third, and there was some good stuff sporadically in the fourth. But overall, this was a rough defensive game. 

And while one game against an offense-first team like Chicago isn’t enough of a sample to determine anything, I do find it interesting that they gave up 51 3-point attempts. Porzingis’ return was probably going to lead to allowing some more 3s than before, but this was way outside what Boston has normally been allowing. 

- Nikola Vucevic: I thought the story of this game was going to be Vucevic destroying Boston, which he absolutely did in the second and third quarters. First he got hot from the outside and then he went inside. That was not fun. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

- The NBA Cup needs to expand to be taken more seriously

I’m going to work with the premise that this tournament is here and not going away. I understand your desire to comment that they should just get rid of it, and I’m not disagreeing with that right now. However, I don’t think it’s going away, so let’s just accept it and make it better. 

Four games make this thing too weird. There are a lot of tiebreakers that are hard to track and understand. Expand it and make it 10 or 12 games. 

In fact, let’s take Joe Mazzulla’s suggestion and remove this tournament from the regular season altogether. Make the regular season 70 games and then add 12 games as the NBA Cup tournament. Play them in December and early January instead of November. And make it so every team has to play the 12 games by dispersing prize money on a scale from winner to last place. 

The season is 82 games for money purposes anyway, so this satisfies that requirement while making the tournament more unique. 

This four-games thing isn’t doing it for me. If they want me invested, then it needs to be bigger and more meaningful. Maybe the meaningful part will take time, but they can make it bigger pretty quickly. 

Next up: The Celtics face the Cavs in Cleveland on Sunday at 6. The winner will stand alone in first place in the East.