1. Gamed by Kevin Huerter
In Game 3 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals, Derrick Rose hit a game-winning three at the buzzer to give the Bulls the win and a 2-1 lead in the series. Almost 11 years later, on the day that Rose is getting his #1 jersey retired by the Bulls organization, Kevin Huerter decided to give a fitting tribute, hitting a game winning three against the Celtics with 0.2 seconds remaining. Huerter isn’t the player I would have expected to hit a shot like that but it happened non the less. Josh Giddey made a pass to Coby White that got the Celtics defense out of rotation. Derrick White stepped up to Coby White, leaving Huerter wide open in the corner where he hit the game winner over a late contest by Neemias Queta.
2. Ridiculous Bulls shooting
Boston had a slow shooting night in this game, finishing 44-99 (44%) from the field and 15-47 (32%) from three. In some games this season, 15 threes is good enough to win these close games. However, this was not one of those nights as the Bulls had a ridiculous shooting night, finishing 43-85 (51%) from the field and 21-45 (47%) from three. It’s not very often you see the Celtics get out shot from beyond the arc but the Bulls just could not miss, having 8 of their 9 players hitting at least 2 threes.
Bulls Shot Zone (Via NBA.com)
Bulls Shot Zone (Via NBA.com)
3. Jaylen Brown Looked Like Michael Jordan
After playing 46 minutes against the Nets night before, Jaylen Brown bounced back immediately and put up an incredible performance against the Bulls. Brown finished with 33 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists on 14-28 shooting. The Bulls were letting Brown get anywhere he wanted to on the court tonight and played a lot of one-on-one defense which is a bold strategy to say the least.
Brown started out the game hot, scoring 11 points in the first quarter and really set the tone for the Celtics. He started the scoring for Boston with a wide open three over Jalen Smith. His next basket saw him matchup with Matas Buzelis in the corner. Brown hit him with a jab step, drove, and shot a midrange jumper over him. He followed that up by attacking Buzelis again, this time for a layup. Finally, he finished his first quarter with a nice layup on the fast break off of a nice pass by Derrick White.
In the second quarter, Brown decided he want to show Chicago his best Michael Jordan impression, hitting 4 mid range jumpers. The first came after attacking Buzelis again, this time in transition. The next came after navigating a screen and getting around Coby White for a bucket. The third came one-on-one with Kevin Huerter as he walked him down and hit an And-1 jumper over him. The final one came in the final seconds of the second quarter where he walked down Coby White and hit a nice running jumper over him.
Brown continued to show out in the third quarter, hitting a three and a finger roll for his first two baskets but it was his third bucket that was beautiful. Brown got Jalen Smith one-on-one on the perimeter where he drove into the lane. With Smith draped over him, Brown faked, spun, and splashed a fadeaway jump shot that looked eerily similar to MJ.
Brown made some huge clutch shots in the fourth quarter that would have been the difference if the Celtics were able to win. He started his fourth quarter scoring with a great pass by Derrick White into Brown underneath the basket for an easy layup. Then at the 2:23 mark down by 4, Brown made a spinning run to the cup where he got fouled and flipped up a shot off of the top of the backboard with his left hand to make the bucket count. Finally, after the Bulls missed a dunk at the end of the game, Brown took the ball coast-to-coast for a tough left handed layup over Josh Giddey to tie the game with 14 seconds remaining. Overall, I liked everything Brown did in this game and he deserved a win.
4. Anfernee Simons Great Game
Boston needed a second scoring punch in this game and Anfernee Simons really stepped up for the Celtics in this game, finishing with 21 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals on 8-16 shooting from the field and 5-11 from three. I thought this was one of Simons’ best defensive games of the season. He did a solid job guarding and his 2 steals were pretty good as well.
His first steal came in the first quarter when Josh Giddey threw a lazy bounce pass that Simons picked off and it resulted in a wide open layup for Derrick White. His second steal came in a bigger spot in the fourth quarter. Giddey was trapped underneath the basket and threw a pass out to the three point line. Simons looked like a defensive back for the Patriots however, intercepting the pass and taking it the other way.
On the scoring front, I would say the second quarter was where Simons’ impact was felt the most. He scored 10 points and kept the Celtics offense in the game. Simons first bucket came when he blew by Kevin Huerter and finished a tough layup. The next came after Queta missed a three and Hauser grabbed an offensive rebound. Hauser found Simons wide open where he was able to knock it down. The third basket came where he blew by Matas Buzelis for a nice ringer roll. Finally, Brown found Simons wide open again for three and splashed it in Giddey’s face.
5. Derrick White Return Game
After a tough stretch, Derrick White missed the Celtics matchup against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday due to rest. White came back for this game in Chicago and had another bad shooting night, scoring 15 points on 5-18 shooting and 3-11 from three. However, I wouldn’t call this a bad game for White overall because he did have 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and some big shots in the fourth quarter.
In his first basket of the fourth quarter, White slowed down his approach and splashed a three over Patrick Williams. White’s second basket of the fourth quarter was another three, this time over Josh Giddey, where once again he looked like he slowed down his mechanics. His last basket of the game was his biggest where after Hauser missed a three, White grabbed the offensive rebound and put back the layup to make it a two point game with 3:41 left.
6. Walsh/Gonzalez play to start 4Q
Down 88-85 going into the fourth quarter, the Celtics needed a spark to begin the fourth quarter and Hugo Gonzalez and Jordan Walsh answered the call. Starting with Gonzalez, at the 10:25 mark of the fourth quarter Hugo was able to replicate his game tying corner three against Brooklyn by hitting one over a late contest from Josh Giddey.
Later in the quarter, Hugo was matched up with Nikola Vucevic on the block. After playing some great defense to deny the Bulls from getting it to him earlier, Gonzalez reached around Vucevic and stole the pass.
This set up a play for Walsh at the 7:23 mark of the quarter. The Celtics were passing the ball around the perimeter. The ball ended up in the hands of White and Jordan Walsh made a beautiful cut from the wing to get a wide open layup.
Watching them play in the beginning of this quarter really made me wonder why Mazzulla didn’t use them more. I think he wanted a more offensive oriented lineup to close the game which I am fine with, but I thought the energy that Gonzalez and Walsh gave you to begin the quarter could have been used later in the game as well.
7. Amari Williams first NBA Start
After a great performance in the Celtics overtime win against the Nets, Amari Williams was given the nod for his first Career NBA start against the Bulls. Williams didn’t play a lot, finishing with 2 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block in 10 minutes of play but he showed some nice flashes.
In the third quarter, Williams showed off his defensive abilities once again. After making the game sealing block against the Nets on Friday, Amari was able to get his finger tips on this layup attempt by Coby White. It arguably could have been called a goal tend but I think it was still an incredible effort by Williams to make a play.
Later in the third quarter, Williams was able to finish a nice play on offense this time. After Simons missed a three, Derrick White grabbed the offensive rebound and made a nice touch pass to Williams where he finished off the play with a dunk.
I have really liked what I saw out of Amari Williams in the last two games he has played and showed an ability to still make an impact no matter what situation he is thrown in to. My dream scenario is that he can turn into the British version of 2022 Robert Williams but I will be patient for now.
8. Weird Paint Game
On the surface of this game, it looks like Boston had a great night. I covered the shooting disparity earlier but the other numbers just make this look like a weird loss. The Celtics did get out-rebounded 44-38 and allowed a ton of offensive rebounds that killed them in the fourth quarter. Chicago was able to bleed time and hit osme big shots to keep Boston at arms distance. However, Boston was able to dominate the paint battle as a whole, winning the points in the paint category 52-42. The Celtics were able to attack Jalen Smith and Nikola Vucevic inside to make a lot of easy baskets. This was just a weird feeling game overall because it felt like Boston did a solid job on the boards until very late.
9. Limited Turnovers
Coming into this game the Celtics were averaging 13.8 turnovers in their last 5 games. These turnovers were the main reasons as to why they lost to the Pistons on Monday and why the Pacers looked to stay in the game on Wednesday. However, they did only turn the ball over 8 times against the Nets on Friday and did an even better job of controlling the ball against the Bulls, only finishing with 6 turnovers on the night. It brings me back to this being a weird numbers game, forcing Chicago into 16 turnovers but still couldn’t get the win.
10. Incredible effort for 2nd game of a back-to-back
Although the Celtics took the loss in this game, I really can’t fault them for losing the way they did. Chicago had a hot shooting night and Boston was able to keep up with them. The Celtics didn’t get into Chicago until 4 AM this morning after playing a double overtime game against the Nets. Boston won’t use that as an excuse for the loss but I liked the way they played. They might have been a step slow but even fatigued, the Celtics put up a better fight in this game than I think any other team in the NBA would. It does feel a tad ironic that the game winner that Huerter made just happened to be in the same exact spot that Hugo Gonzalez made the three to force double overtime against the Nets. I guess that’s just basketball sometimes.