Recap: Short-Handed Celtics Fall to Nikola Vucevic, Chicago Bulls, 102-96
Associated Press
Nikola Vucevic scored 29 points and grabbed 9 rebounds as the Chicago Bulls beat the shorthanded Boston Celtics 102-96.
Coby White added 19 points and seven assists and Garrett Temple chipped in with 13 as the Bulls snapped the Celtics season-long six-game winning streak. Former Celtic Daniel Theis had 6 points in his return to TD Garden while Javonte Green did not see any floor time in this game.
Jaylen Brown led the Celtics with 23 points and Jayson Tatum had his first career triple-double with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and 13 assists but struggled from the field shooting 3-17. Rookie Payton Pritchard had 14 points and Tristan Thompson scored 11.
The Celtics played without Kemba Walker and Marcus Smart (non-Covid related illness), Robert Williams (knee), and Evan Fournier (Health and Safety Protocol).
The Celtics jumped out to a 9-0 lead early and used Brown’s 13 first-quarter points to take a 30-24 lead after one. Nikola Vucevic had seven in the period to keep the Bulls close. He added 8 more in the second as Chicago erased an 11-point deficit and ended the half trailing 48-42. Jabari Parker scored six points in the period to lead the Celtics second quarter scoring as Boston got nothing from Brown and only three points from Tatum.
The Bulls trailed for the majority of the game until they used a 32-18 third quarter to take a 74-66 lead into the final period as the Celtics offense struggled, scoring 18 in both the second and third quarters while Chicago scored 50 over the same period to seize control of the game heading into the final period.
Tremont Waters gave the Celtics a spark in the final period, coming off the bench to score 9 points which included the final Boston points of the night on a layup that made the score 98-96. White then hit 4 from the free-throw line to close out the scoring.
This snapped a six-game win streak for the Celtics. Their next two games come in the form of a back-to-back on Thursday and Friday. The first game will be against the Phoenix Suns on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. (EST) on NBC Sports Boston.
