Final: Celtics 115, Bulls 101 - Simons erupts in second half, C's move into 2nd seed

BOSTON CELTICS (22-12) vs. CHICAGO BULLS (17-18)

Regular season game 35

TD Garden 7:30 p.m. - NBCS Boston

SCHEDULE ADVANTAGE: Neither. Both teams played in different cities on Saturday night. We might be able to say the Bulls have a slight advantage because they had six games at home and this was a shorter postgame flight. 

Boston has won three in a row. 

INJURIES

Boston: Jayson Tatum (OUT-Achilles) 

Chicago: Josh Giddey (OUT-hamstring), Zach Collins (OUT-toe), Noa Essengue (OUT-shoulder), Trentyn Flowers (OUT-knee), Jalen Smith (OUT-concussion), Coby White (PROBABLE-calf)

OFFICIALS

JB DeRosa (#14)    Nate Green (#41)    Jenna Schroeder (#20)

THINGS I’M LOOKING FOR

1. First game back malaise: I’ve said it a million times but it’s a well-known problem for any team coming off a long road trip. The first game back at home is always a bit of an issue because everyone gets home, crashes, and doesn’t want to leave the comforts of home after being away for two weeks. 

So, more than anything, I want to see if they can shake that off at any point in this game. It might happen right away, it might take a while, but what I hope is that it happens somehow. 

2. Jaylen Brown’s follow up: I’m always curious to see how a guy follows up a monster scoring night. There's no pattern for players, and the last time Brown scored 50 in 2022, he followed it up with a 30-point game. So let’s see if history can repeat itself. 

Side note: I didn’t see it mentioned anywhere, but Jaylen’s 2022 career-high came on January 2, 2022 and this last one was on January 3, 2025. It was almost exactly to the day three years later. That's kind of wild. 

3. Wing rotation: Does Jordan Walsh remain out of the starting lineup? How does Joe Mazzulla go with his rotations against Chicago? I feel like some length at the wing makes sense. 

Follow along with my thoughts as the game goes on. They’ll show up below and in the comments section, so hop in and share your opinion as well.