Key Moment
The Celtics may have played a basketball game Tuesday night, but they spent most of it throwing – and landing – knockout punches.
Boston led by 11 after one quarter and doubled that lead at halftime. However, the Bulls scored five straight points early on in the third quarter to claw to within 16 while building up their strongest wave of momentum of the night.
That’s when Boston landed its final punch of the night to knock the Bulls out for good.
The Celtics responded with a flurry of nine straight points, and an 18-4 run overall, to blow their lead open to 30 points with 4:44 left in the quarter. Suffice to say, this one was over at that very moment.
The run was due in large part to the services of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. During the four-minute spurt, Tatum scored five of the run’s first seven points, and eight of the 18 overall. Meanwhile, Browns cored six of the 18 points, including the final two on a fast break layup to push the lead to 30 points.
The lead grew to as many as 35 points during the fourth quarter as the Celtics coasted to a 27-point victory. That margin was enough to punch their improbable ticket into the In-Season Tournament’s Quarterfinals. Their point differential secured a win amid a three-way tie situation with Orlando and Brooklyn for the winner of Group C, and as such, they advance to the knockout stage.
Key Player
Jaylen Brown put forth arguably his best all-around game of the season Tuesday night against Chicago. Not only did he lead the game with 30 points, but he also piled up eight rebounds to go along with six assists and a blocked shot.
That’s a whole lot of impact across the board in 35 minutes of action.
Brown canned 12 of his 23 shots from the field to account for his 30 points. He scored nine points during the first quarter, seven during the second, 10 during the third, and four during the fourth.
Box Score Nuggets
- Boston shot 21-for-49 from long range as a team, good for 42.9 percent.
- The Celtics limited Chicago to just 43.3 percent shooting as a team.
- All five of Boston's starters scored between 14 and 30 points, led by Jaylen Brown's 30.
- Boston's largest lead was 35 points, while Chicago's was just three.
- DeMar DeRozan and Coby White tied for Chicago's top scoring total with 19 points apiece.
- The C's dished out 36 assists, led by nine from Jrue Holiday.
- Holiday returned from injury to total 14 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and a steal.
- The Bulls committed only eight turnovers during the game - half the amount of Boston.
- All eight Celtics who attempted a 3-pointer during the game made at least one.
- Sam Hauser grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds to go along with nine points and two assists.
- Payton Pritchard scored 11 points off the bench.
- Derrick White scored 14 points on only seven shots, and also tallied seven assists, three rebounds and two steals.
- Al Horford notched 16 points, nine rebounds, six assists, three blocked shots and two steals.
Quote of the Night
“I think we all kinda knew, I mean a little bit, of what we needed to go and do. This probably might be the best one, sure."
– Derrick White on if this was the most exciting 27-point win of his career, given the In-Season Tournament ramifications