Celtics beat Chicago Bulls, 111-104

CHICAGO — Asked about his team’s propensity for coming back from double digit deficits this season, Brad Stevens said, “Double digits don’t matter in the NBA. It just happens, you can change that so fast.”

Thankfully for the Celtics, anyway, this much is true.

After starting last night true to form, by falling into a 12-point first quarter hole, the Celtics came back to barely escape Chicago with a 111-104 win over the Bulls Saturday night.

They barely withstood a 15-2 Chicago run in the fourth, fed by six Celtics turnovers over one near-disastrous seven-possession stretch, and created just enough space thanks to five points from Jayson Tatum in a late 53-second stretch.

His biggest shot on this 28-point night was a game-breaking, buzzer-beating 3-pointer in front of the Celtics bench with 1:06 left.

Gordon Hayward added 24 points, Jaylen Brown another 19, and Enes Kanter once again made the most of his bench role with a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double.

Wendell Carter Jr.’s three-point play with 2:58 left — made possible when the Celtics were called for a lane violation on his initial miss — cut the Celtics lead to 103-99.

But Tatum scored from the lane, and after LaVine scored off a long isolation dribble, the Celtics forward buried a deep buzzer-beating trey from in front of the Celtics bench with 1:06 left for a 108-101 lead.

LaVine missed twice from the line, Tatum lost the ball in a trap, Brown rebounded a LaVine pull-up trey attempt, and with 27.3 seconds left Hayward put the game out of reach with two free throws.

Tatum’s finger roll gave the Celtics an 85-73 lead with half a second left in the third quarter, but it was the one-man 8-0 run by Kanter that gave the Celtics some space, with the center including back-to-back three-point plays in that burst.

Kanter, now with a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double kicked off the fourth quarter with another post-up, and the Celtics pushed out to a 93-77 edge with 9:45 left.

And when the Bulls ran off four straight points, Kanter answered again with one of his best known ways to score – by putting back his own miss.

But this basket came in the midst of a 15-2 Bulls run that chopped the Celtics lead to 95-92, including a Thaddeus Young transition hoop after Kanter lost the ball in a triple team.

Kanter also turned the ball over on an ensuing timeout, this time with a charge, leading to a LaVine 3-pointer.

The Celtics ultimately turned the ball over five times in six possessions, and seven in eight, with Hayward finally finding the basket with a three-point play and a 98-92 lead with six minutes left.

The Bulls missed a pair of layup opportunities during this stretch, and following Hayward’s conversion, Smart made them pay further with a free throw (and a miss) with 4:09 left for a 99-92 edge.

But LaVine scored twice, including a transition dunk that cut the Celtics lead to 99-96 with 3:22 left.

Brown ended the misery with a lane jumper, and came back 17 seconds later with two free throws for a 103-96 lead.

Hurt especially by their mistakes, in the form of nine first half turnovers, the Celtics fell into a 12-point hole before coming back to take a 55-52 halftime lead.

Hayward, Tatum and Brown each scored 12 points to balance out a 17-point first half by LaVine, including three 3-pointers by the Chicago guard.

The Celtics ramped up their pressure in the third quarter, forced an early shot clock violation as well as a Chicago timeout after Hayward drove for a 62-55 lead.

But five straight points from LaVine cut the Celtics lead to a basket, and when Tatum answered from downtown, the Bulls ran off four more points.

But starting with a Smart basket and peaking on five straight points from Hayward, the Celtics carved out a little space for a 74-66 lead.

And then they went for more, courtesy of Kanter, who posted up twice for back-to-back three-point plays, and then finished off the break for an 83-71 Celtics lead.

Thaddeus Young scored, but Tatum capped off the third with a half-second left with a finger roll for an 85-73 lead.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/35t2MDv