Celtics win streak snapped in 102-96 loss to Chicago

The NBA’s longest active win streak ended, a bit weirdly, in a whimper Monday night with the Celtics’ 102-96 loss to Chicago.

The loss snapped a six-game winning streak, and one game after scoring 44 points in a stirring win over Golden State, Jayson Tatum was unable to overcome a flat night with a 14-point, 3-for-17 performance. Jaylen Brown, after a 13-point first quarter, only had 10 points the rest of the way.

Marcus Smart, a late scratch, and Kemba Walker both missed the game due to non-COVID-related illnesses, and the Bulls had to make do without Zach LaVine due to the health and safety protocol.

But the Bulls ultimately got more out of their stripped-down lineup, with Nikola Vucevic’s 29-point performance too much for the Celtics to handle.

Boston seemed game to get it done after back-to-back 3-pointers from Payton Pritchard and Brown, the latter for a 90-90 tie with 3:24 left, pulled the Celtics out of a six-point hole.

Vucevic hit a turnaround over Tristan Thompson to regain the Bulls lead, and the next two Celtics bids went south when Garrett Temple blocked Tatum and Brown threw the ball away,

Patrick Williams scored, capping the Bulls run at 6-0 for a 96-90 lead. Two Pritchard free throws with 1:35 left cut the margin to four, but Tatum threw the ball away attempting to get a lob to Brown.

The next possession featured two Romeo Langford misses, and when a broken Chicago possession resulted in a jump ball with 23.1 seconds left, Tatum beat old friend Daniel Theis to the tip.

Tremont Waters converted the play at the rim, cutting the Chicago lead to 96-94 with 16 seconds left.

Cody White was fouled on the inbounds play with 15.9 seconds left and hit twice for a four-point edge.

Tatum immediately drove, got fouled by Theis, and with 13.2 seconds left hit twice, cutting the margin again to two points. But White, fouled with 10.6 seconds left, again didn’t miss for a four-point lead.

This time Tatum missed off a full-court drive, and with seven-tenths of a second left, Temple iced it with two free throws.

The Celtics struggled through a frigid third quarter, with the Bulls taking their first lead of the night with a quarter-closing 12-2 run for a 74-66 lead. Chicago outscored Boston 32-18 in the third.

Tatum opened the fourth with a three, and the Celtics ran off the first five points of the quarter. But after showing some defensive energy, they lost hold of the Bulls, chasing the rest of the way.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3sB4CxM