Final: Celtics 117, Bulls 94 - Another road blowout for 50-win Celtics

GAME 80
Boston Celtics (49-30, 21-17 road, T-2nd East) vs. Chicago Bulls (45-34, 24-16 home, 6th East)
United Center
8:00 PM - NBC Sports Boston 

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

Boston: Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Daniel Theis, Al Horford

Chicago: Ayo Dosunmu, Coby White, DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Williams, Nikola Vucevic

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Robert Williams (meniscus surgery recovery), Nik Stauskas (ankle), Juwan Morgan (health and safety protocols) are out for Boston

- Lonzo Ball (knee) has been ruled out for the remainder of the season. Alex Caruso (back) is out tonight. 

- Chicago is on a back-to-back. They lost to the Milwaukee Bucks last night. They're now 1-13 versus Milwaukee, Miami, Philadelphia, and Boston. 

- Zach LaVine will play tonight. He missed yesterday’s game with soreness in his left knee.

- Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown (both with right knee soreness) and Al Horford (back soreness) are both available tonight. 

- Boston is favored by 6

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Attacking Vucevic: Brook Lopez just dropped a monster 28 point game on the Bulls, taking advantage of the weakest part of the Bulls defense. Add to that the absences of Caruso and Ball, and the Bull are going to be a very vulnerable team. Boston can’t bail them out with quick shots off one pass or settling for jumpers. This is a team vulnerable to being attacked with multiple paint touches. If the ball touches the paint on multiple attacks, it should be a layup parade.

2. Making DeRozan uncomfortable: He doesn’t want to shoot 3-pointers, and he’s great at getting to the spots he wants. Stay disciplined with the closeouts and dare him to shoot. Don’t overreact to him with the ball on the perimeter, and by God don’t bite on any pump fakes behind the arc. If he wants to shoot them, let him (within reason. Don’t give him warm up 3-pointers either. Challenge, but keep him in front). 

3. Continued hot bench shooting: Maybe the most important thing to keep rolling is the bench shooting from Grant Williams, Derrick White, and Payton Pritchard. Williams knocking down shots is especially important, so seeing him stay reasonably hot from behind the arc would be nice. 

GAME THREAD

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