jQuery(document).ready(function() { addByline("Taylor Snow", "Celtics.com", "taylorcsnow"); keysToTheGame(); });
Key Moment
Saturday night's key moment? When the Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls walked onto the United Center court for opening tip.
One team was a wide-eyed and gearing to go, and the other, well, let’s just say it was at the opposite end of the spectrum.
The Celtics erupted for 17 points during the first six minutes of the game. The Bulls, during that same stretch, scored zero.
It's not often that a game is put out of reach one eighth of the way into action, but such was the case Saturday night. Chicago's starters couldn't get anything to fall out of the gates, and coach Jim Boylen subbed all five of them out less than five minutes into the game. But by then it was too late.
Chicago didn't score its first field goal until the 5:06 mark of the first quarter. By that point, the Celtics had already dropped nine shots through the net.
Boston never slowed down, and the Bulls never woke up, as the C's cruised to a 133-77 win – their largest margin of victory in franchise history.
Key Player
Daniel Theis picked the perfect night to have the best game of his NBA career.
The Celtics headed into the day knowing they'd be without Aron Baynes (ankle) and Robert Williams (personal). Then shortly before tip-off, it was announced that Al Horford would be scratched because of knee soreness.
This opened the doors for Daniel Theis to make his first start of the season, and he capitalized by pouring in a career-high 22 points, dishing out a career-high five assists, and corralling a game-high 10 rebounds.
The most impressive stat for Theis, however, was in the plus/minus column, where he finished with an otherworldly plus-50 during 32 minutes of play.
Box Score Nuggets
- Boston's 56-point margin of victory was its largest in franchise history.
- Chicago's 56-point margin of defeat was its largest in franchise history.
- Daniel Theis logged career-highs of 22 points, five assists and a plus-50 rating.
- The Celtics shot a season-best 53.8 percent from the field.
- All five Bulls starters were held scoreless during the first quarter.
- Marcus Morris scored all 12 of his points during the opening frame.
- Boston had 22 second-chance points off of 13 offensive boards.
- The Celtics shot 22-of-43 from 3-point range (51.2 percent).
- It marked Boston's fifth straight game with at least 13 3-pointers – the longest stretch in team history.
- For the second straight game, Jaylen Brown logged a career-high in points, this time with 23.
- The Celtics logged 62 bench points.
Quote of the Night
Daniel Theis on his career night.