Final: Bulls 128, Celtics 114 - Boston booed off court after epic collapse

Game 7: Celtics (2-4) vs. Bulls (5-1)
TD Garden
7:30 PM, NBC Sports Boston 

STARTERS

BOSTON: Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, Robert Williams

CHICAGO: Javonte Green, DeMar, DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Zach LaVine, Lonzo Ball

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- No injuries or restrictions for Boston. Everyone is a full go.

- LaVine is playing through a left thumb sprain

- Boston is favored by 2.5 points

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

- Despite the double overtime and a sickness (non-COVID) going through the locker room, the Celtics are a full go for tonight’s game. There is an especially close eye on Jaylen Brown. 

“He’s talked quite openly about it and taken some different approaches to it. We’ll keep him on the same minutes and just monitor him in general,” Ime Udoka said. “He trying to focus on being more active and not letting that get in his head. But he looked so good the last game. We want the carryover there. I don’t think he’s going to have a great game every time without a bad game, but he’s focused, he took a different approach physically to his rest and get his treatment, and I look forward to him putting a few good games back-to-back together.”

Brown currently leads the NBA in minutes played. It would be quite beneficial if he was able to cut those back a bit in this game. 

- Horford currently leads the NBA in blocked shots after posting SIX on Saturday night in Washington, DC. 

“He’s a guy that’s pretty much been our best team defender, as well as switching and guarding guys on the perimeter,” Udoka said before the game. “He’s a veteran presence and he knows how to use his body. Last game with six blocks, obviously that was a huge number, but he’s affecting so many more shots and he’s coming across and rebounding. So, he’s been great this year.”

Even the biggest Horford optimist has to be pleasantly surprised by how well he’s played. He’s playing with more energy than one might expect from a 35-year-old. 

“I've always taken pride in defending,” Horford said. “That's always been a staple of my game. And I feel like that kind of sets the tone for our group in general, that’s how we need to be. We need to take pride in defending and doing the dirty work. And understanding that, if we do that, we'll be in good position most nights to be able to win the game.”

Horford played 41 minutes against Washington, a massive number for a player of his ... ummm ... experience level. The Celtics say there are no restrictions on him this evening, however having a fresh Robert Williams to eat up some minutes will help. 

“To have the bodies back should take some stress off the guys who have been playing heavy minutes,” Udoka said. “Just in general we feel great with our depth - our bench and the other guys are getting experience, and then we can throw our starters back in. The other guys off the bench should be able to refresh those guys. I told the group today this is the second time we’ve had our whole lineup - been in and out, up and down a little bit, but do better than the last time we did against Toronto.”

The Celtics got waxed by the Raptors after a double OT loss to the Knicks in the first week of the season. The hope here tonight is that lessoned learned, and some steps forward gameplan-wise, will be enough to avoid that same fate. 

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Jaylen Brown’s energy: This is a pretty obvious one. Until Brown breaks the cycle of very down performances after big-minute, very good performances, we’re going to watch not only if he’s up or down in this game, but how he handles things if he’s having a bad game. Is he forcing things, or is he doing other things to help the team?

2. Can Boston force turnovers?: The Bulls are second in the NBA with just 12.2 turnovers per game. A lot of what Boston is trying to do hinges on getting out in transition. The key to handing Chicago it’s second lost might be whether the Celtics can force the Bulls into getting sloppy. 

3. Attacking mismatches: The Celtics can go at Vucevic with Robert Williams. They can post up Green and DeRozan. They can do things that will force the Bulls to send help and then move the ball off that. Watch for the Celtics to hunt those early and see if there is a weak spot to probe for easy points.

GAME THREAD

Stick around for more comments below as the game goes on. Feel free to add your two cents in the comments.