Chicago, Ill. DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points, Zach LaVine added 22, and the Chicago Bulls defeated the Boston Celtics 121-107 on Monday night to end Boston’s nine-game winning run.
When playing the club with the best record in the NBA, the Bulls seemed to have it easy thanks to a season-high 17 points from Patrick Williams. After losing four consecutive games and five of six, they had a 13-point lead at halftime, increased it to 21 points in the third quarter, and held off a challenge to win.
DeRozan scored eight times in a little more than a minute late in the third, adding to his 41 points in Friday’s defeat to Orlando. With just under three minutes remaining in the game, he also turned and supplied Alex Caruso for a reverse layup that increased the score to 116-101.
After scoring four points against the Magic and being benched in the last seconds, LaVine recovered. In the last period, he scored nine points.
Jayson Tatum scored 28 points to lead Boston. Malcolm Brogdon ended with 23 points, including 5 of 6 3-pointers, while Jaylen Brown scored 25.
After Coby White’s 3-pointer capped a 15-2 run to start the second quarter, the Bulls led 46-31 and 63-50 at the half.
Early in the third, LaVine nailed a 3-pointer to make it 74-53. Before Brogdon’s 3-pointer in the last seconds of the game to spark an 11-0 run, the score was 19 points.
TIP-INS
G, Celtics Marcus Smart was available after missing the previous two games due to right ankle soreness. The Celtics will manage, according to interim coach Joe Mazzulla, if Defensive Player of the Year winner Marcus Smart sometimes misses games. I believe in his work ethic and health, the man remarked. “If it becomes worse, he’ll act in the team’s best interest. I believe that. … In the first frame, the Celtics made 22 shots, of which 17 were 3-pointers. In all, they hit six field goals and five 3-pointers throughout the session, giving Chicago a 28-23 edge.
Bulls: Coach Billy Donovan said that G Coby White (bruised left quad) has to regain his stamina before he is prepared to play for extended periods of time. After missing eight games, he made his Friday appearance against Orlando for 4:20. He does extremely, really fantastic job, according to Donovan. His physical state is most likely nothing near where it was before the accident. But given the way he works, I anticipate that he will return very fast.
