Shorthanded Celtics fall to Bulls, 121-99

Probably the most enticing result of the NBA’s play-in tournament is the spread of desperation among more teams.

So there were the Celtics on Friday night, this time without Jaylen Brown (ankle) and Rob Williams (toe), attempting to stay out of the mini derby, and Chicago, with a late-season hope of getting in.

The Celtics, who fell behind Miami into seventh place in the process, lost hold to the more desperate team in their 121-99 loss to the 11th-place Bulls. The loss heightens the stakes of their two-game series in the Garden against the Heat on Sunday and Tuesday.

Jayson Tatum struggled to find a flow all night and finished with nine points on 3-for-15 shooting. One of Kemba Walker’s finest nights of the season (season-high 33 points, 10-for-21) and a strong 17-point night from Evan Fournier were thus wasted.

The Celtics trailed by 20 points (94-74) at the start of the fourth with Tatum (eight points, 3-for-14) yet to find a groove, and Walker (28 points, 9-for-17) and Evan Fournier (17) trying their best to carry the offense.

The latter two, to this stage, were the only Celtics to make a 3-pointer. But the Celtics opened the fourth on the attack, and were rewarded with four trips to the line in the first two minutes. As such the Celtics forced Chicago into the bonus, and in the process strung together an 8-0 run that included 6-for-8 free-throw shooting, and cut the Chicago lead to 94-82 with 8:57 left.

Tatum, with a chance to cut the margin to 10, instead missed the first of two free throws with 6:35 left, leaving the Celtics down by 11.

But a Walker steal led to a Grant Williams 3-pointer that cut the Chicago lead to 98-90, Nik Vucevic answered from 15 feet.

Two free throws from Williams trimmed it once again to eight points, but this time Zach LaVine dunked off the baseline and, following a Marcus Smart turnover, Coby White buried a 3-pointer for a 105-92 Chicago lead.

The Celtics went cold and the Bulls, triggered by the above two baskets, kicked out with a game-closing 11-0 run.

The Celtics went into halftime trailing, 60-46, as Chicago was able to bury five treys in the last 5:24 of the third quarter, including three from Cody White.

A slow-starting Tatum personified the Celtics’ struggles, and finished the first half with two points on 1-for-7 shooting.

Tatum scored his second basket of the night 44 seconds into the third quarter and the Celtics, after surrendering 11 3-pointers in the first half, appeared to ramp things up defensively.

But it was Walker, at one stage scoring 10 straight Celtics points, who kept them in it. But the Celtics, after cutting the Bulls edge to 12 three times, slipped back into a 17-point hole (80-63) on White’s sixth 3-pointer of the night.

The Bulls reached their first 20-point lead of the night when Garrett Temple buried a 3-pointer over Fall, and the Bulls continued to roll, carrying a 94-74 lead into the fourth quarter.

Walker and Fournier, who have developed a nice two-man game, combined for 22 of the first 24 Celtics points, including a 5-for-5 start by Fournier.

But with the Bulls matching them down the other end, and Tatum only scoring once off a backdoor cut, the Celtics found themselves looking up from the bottom by the end of the quarter.

They trailed at the start of the second quarter, 30-28, courtesy of Chicago’s closing 8-2 run as the Celtics missed their last three shots.

With the exception of a pair of Thompson dunks, the Celtics opened the second quarter cold, enabling Chicago to jump out to a peak lead of six points. Despite some strong moments by Nesmith and Parker, neither could really boost the bench’s scoring.

The Bulls went up by 10 points (46-36) on a Vucevic 3-pointer on the end of a 12-4 run. Tatum, who had missed all three of his 3-point attempts, had two points at this stage on 1-for-7 shooting.

With Coby White hitting three of Chicago’s five 3-pointers in the last 5:27 of the second quarter, the Bulls were able to close out the half with a 60-46 lead.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3h7fqln