Boston Celtics vs. Chicago Bulls: Instant Analysis

One down, 81 to go! The Chicago Bulls are still undefeated after beating the Boston Celtics, 105-99, at the United Center on Thursday night.

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Dwyane Wade wasted no time, scoring first to get his time with the Bulls off to a great start. There was a lot of energy early as Wade and fellow guard, Rajon Rondo, applied pressure on offense and defense, setting the tone early.

The Bulls looked somewhat familiar in their early play calling, despite new personnel. Robin Lopez quickly assumed Joakim Noah’s position at the top of key, conducting offensive possessions early. As the game went on, that look became more and more infrequent.

Chicago worked well attacking the rim, but were ugly in the mid-range. Not to be outdone, the Celtics looked terrible, and played with no energy. Both teams were settling for low-percentage looks and leaving most of them short. And then the Bulls did the unthinkable.

Jimmy Butler hit a corner 3-pointer. It was a 15-5 lead at 7:20 in the first quarter courtesy of a 7-0 run from Chicago. There was a lot of great perimeter shooting from the Bulls, but it was interrupted by some poor play. Chicago went back to the mid-range, trying to post Wade and Butler in the exact same spot on same possession. It resulted in a poor effort that was saved by Lopez, who got the put back two points.

The real story for the Bulls in the first quarter, and throughout the game, was 3-point shooting and rebounding. Wade started 2-for-2 from deep, Rondo was 1-for-1, and Butler opened with a make as well. In all the Bulls started 4-for-6 and continued to shoot well throughout the game.

Gibson put in a great shift as the starting power forward, keeping Al Horford in check. As if to confirm, Nikola Mirotic got worked by Horford as soon as he entered the game.

It was 30-20, Chicago, after the first quarter.

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The Bulls maintained a 10 point lead well into the second quarter. Cristiano Felicio, notably getting into the game ahead of Bobby Portis, played hard, staying active on screens and rim rolls. After a run, the Celtics cut Chicago’s lead to 43-40 with 4:43 left in the second quarter. Boston had come out completely flat, didn’t look alive. The first couple of 3-pointers made by the Bulls were open or uncontested looks, while the Celtics didn’t fight through any screens and settled for bad shots on stifled possessions. Boston seemed to really wake up after a scuffling involving Jae Crowder and Butler resulted in technicals to each player, along with a dust up between Isaiah Thomas and Rondo.

The Bulls weren’t having it and continued to shoot well from 3-point range. After a timeout with about 10 seconds left in the first half, which seemed entirely unnecessary, Chicago inbounded, went the length of the court, found Butler on the wing who spotted up and knocked it down. Bulls lead at halftime, 57-49 . Butler hit 3 to end the half in an ATO from Hoiberg.

Most notable in the first half, Jimmy shot 3-for-3 from deep, but missed all five of his 2-point attempts. Wade finished the half 3-for-4, Rondo 1-for-1 from deep. Mirotic didn’t look good, but still shot 3-for-6 for 8 points (0-for-2 from 3) in the half. Bulls committed six first half turnovers. Rondo was hunting assists and that actually had become problematic, leading to turnovers and missed opportunities.

Celtics make up a bunch of ground in the 3rd, thanks to Horford. The lead was cut to one, 64-63, with 6:07 to play in the third quarter. Butler hits another 3, making him 4-for-4 from deep which tied his career high. However, he was still 1-for-8 on 2-point attempts at that point in the game. Late in third quarter, 76-71, Michael Carter-Williams got some extended run with Mirotic and that probably gives us a decent idea of what the Bulls second unit will look like. Isaiah Canaan got a chance, but shot 0-for-3 in six minutes. Carter-Williams ended with 17 minutes. The rotation seems pretty clear for right now.

The game tightened up after Boston briefly took the lead. The Bulls were crushing the boards, and allowd just three offensive rebounds for the Celtics for the entire game. Overall, Chicago outrebounded Boston, 55-36.

Dwyane Wade came out strong in the fourth quarter and the Bulls put it away late. Up 86-81, MCW hit a 3-pointer and then gets a floater to push lead to 93-81. From that point on, the Bulls were hardly in jeopardy. The Celtics went on 9-0 run to pull back 95-90 4:30 left, seven points scored by Thomas. Then a Crowder bucket made it 99-95, Bulls. After it got to 101-99 with less than 30 seconds left, Wade hit the dagger from 3-point land. He had missed five consecutive shots before draining his fourth 3 and he finished with 22 points in his Bulls debut.

Butler led all Bulls with 24 points, Rondo finished with nine assists but shot just 1-for-9 from the field. After struggles early in the game, Mirotic evened out and finished the game much stronger. It was evident that he wants to execute better – he unleashed a wild punch into the air after draining a long 3-pointer late in the game.

Bobby Portis, Denzel Valentine and Paul Zipser were the only Bulls players to not see time on the court. The absence of Portis appears to be the most concerning. Canaan’s poor outing and short leash probably means more minutes for Carter-Williams and possibly Valentine when he is fully healthy. Jerian Grant was inactive for the game.