CHICAGO (670 The Score) – The Bulls played one of the cleanest, most efficient games offensively of their entire season Saturday. Against the NBA’s best team, it still didn’t matter.
Despite the Bulls (34-37) shooting 57.3% and committing just seven turnovers, the league-leading Celtics (57-14) earned a 124-113 win at the United Center. Beyond Boston’s 21-of-48 showing from 3-point range, the Bulls’ undoing also came in the form of the Celtics holding a 23-2 advantage in second-chance points. Boston had 12 offensive rebounds.
It left the Bulls shaking their heads afterward, knowing they’d done plenty well but still didn’t have what it took to beat a Celtics team that was missing three key players in center Kristaps Porzingis, wing Jaylen Brown and guard Jrue Holiday.
“They’re the best team, bro,” Bulls guard Coby White said. “They hit a lot of threes. They take and make the most threes in the NBA. For us, we just got to limit those second-chance points. They’re going to make tough shots. That’s what they do. They’ve been doing it all year consistently, so you got to live with those. The ones we can’t give up are the offensive rebounds, the wide-open ones, the uncontested ones.”
With eight points and 13 rebounds, Celtics center Luke Kornet outplayed Bulls center Nikola Vucevic, who had 14 points but just two rebounds. Kornet had five offensive rebounds and also drew a couple loose ball fouls while crashing the glass, consistently giving Boston extra chances.
Afterward, Bulls coach Billy Donovan explained that the Celtics’ prolific 3-point shooting volume got his team's defense out of sorts.
“With their 3-point shooting, a lot of times we have (Vucevic) up in coverage, so there are shots going up, there’s rolls, and a lot of times he’s trying to get back in,” Donovan said. “I think one of the things that happened too that led to threes was ball containment. Obviously, when you’re the back line of defense like he is, sometimes the rotation piece where he’s out of position because he’s having to help, so it was a combination of things. Certainly, I think, collectively as a team, we needed to do a much better job of blocking out than we did. But the threes for them, I think, came on like a lot of penetration kind of play, and we were in rotations. And sometimes when you’re in rotations, those are the hardest ones to rebound.”
The Bulls had a season-high 36 assists and posted a 124.4 offensive rating, but it wasn’t enough as the Celtics posted a 132.6 figure on that end. The Celtics led 95-92 entering the fourth quarter and gradually built their lead from there while holding off the Bulls.
Donovan expressed displeasure about the Bulls’ defense, which has struggled in recent weeks. Chicago’s defense has been the third-worst in the league across its past eight games.
“Oh yeah,” Donovan responded when asked if he’d noticed it. “Two things stand out … the two things that have hurt us have been the rebounding and also the fouling. Those would be the two things that have stood out that have really driven it down. Our first-shot defense has not been bad. It’s been pretty good. But it’s been the second-chance opportunities that have hurt us. And then also, I think, some of the fouling – the ability to go vertical and not try to reach (has eluded us).”
Cody Westerlund is an editor for 670TheScore.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund .
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