Bulls-Celtics: Three Takeaways From… A… Blowout… Win?
The Chicago Bulls have won three straight games. Here are three takeaways from last night’s game.
United Center attendees went home happy with Big Macs in their futures last night. That’s because the Chicago Bulls walloped the Boston Celtics in a surprise 108-85 blowout. The Celtics, weathering injuries, put up a valiant effort, but the Bulls proved to be too much for the depleted C’s.
Kyrie Irving (out with a left quad contusion) and Marcus Morris were sorely missed on the court. Boston fell to a 23-6 record with the loss and Chicago improved to a polar opposite 6-20 record with the win. Following the return of Nikola Mirotic and David Nwaba to their lineup last week, Chicago has suddenly pivoted from a 10-game losing streak into a three-game winning streak.
Of course, had any one of those three big rotation pieces played, the odds are good that Boston would have had enough horses to eke out the W against the rebuilding Hoibulls. It’s hard to gauge just how competent the newly ascendant Bulls actually are, and how much of this win streak represents the young squad turning some kind of corner. I think it’s something of a fluke, and that the Bulls are not in any danger of becoming a decent team this season. They may have metamorphosed into something wholly unexpected this year… a watchable team, replete with some fun depth.
Let’s dive into some big elements from last night to think about in today’s Three Takeaways.
Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic probably hate how well they fit together
I’m still of the opinion that a guy who breaks his teammate’s face in a team scrimmage shouldn’t be any part of that team’s long term future. That said, Last night was the Niko and Bobby Show, as Portis scored a career-high 23 points tonight in just 23 minutes. Nikola Mirotic contributed 24 points and pulled down eight rebounds of his own.
Mirotic had 14 of those 24 points in the first quarter. Those numbers were invariably inflated because the Bulls’ actual starting power forward, Lauri Markkanen sat with back spasms. The two nominal power forwards occasionally shared the floor, and showed off an impressively effective high-low passing game. Across one seven-minute stretch, the duo spearheaded a 24-2 run in the second quarter that pretty effectively deflated Boston’s mojo heading into halftime.
Mirotic shot nine-of-14 from the field and went three-of-seven from deep. He has shot 50.8% from long range, on 4.5 attempts per game, in his three games back. And yes, even Nikola Mirotic knows that this should normally be happening in March. Portis shot 10-of-15 from the field (including a perfect three-of-three from long range) and was a +29 off the bench.
The blowout was so extreme that $32 million center Cristiano Felicio, who had been displaced in the Bulls’ front court rotation for three games, saw four minutes of game time, where he notched three points and two boards.
Chicago ‘s offense was rattling and humming
The Celtics were missing three of their top five leaders in minutes played per game, and Jayson Tatum, the 19 year-old rookie phenom had a decidedly off night. Tatum had just four points, shooting an ice cold one-of-seven from the field in 29 minutes of action. He should have gotten double those looks, especially on a night where players racking up a cumulative 37.5 shot attempts per game were sitting. You can chalk up some of Tatum’s yips to Chicago’s defense, but I think it’s more of a credit to dumb luck.
There was no denying that Chicago’s 108 points against the Celtics’ defense — yes, even a depleted Celtics defense — was an impressive story. Chicago converted 48.1% of their field goals to Boston’s 39.8%. The disparity was even more severe from beyond the arc, as Chicago made 41.4%, and lapped Boston’s 25% in so doing. Boston took 40 three point attempts, while Chicago limited themselves to 29.
Had the Celtics made a few more of their looks early, maybe the game wouldn’t have broken up in the third quarter the way it did. Chicago was already up by 56-42 at the half, but a Brad Stevens-coached Celtics team certainly could have come back from that against one of the worst teams in the NBA.
Bulls’ biggest coup on offense, though, may have been their control of the ball. Controlling possessions with smart play from Mirotic, Portis and their point guard corps of Kris Dunn and Jerian Grant made a huge difference in netting the W. Dunn had 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. Grant had some good moments off the bench, and racked up nine assists to go along with eight points (on two-of-three shooting) in 23 minutes.
GarPax better keep David Nwaba
My new favorite Bull is second year swing man David Nwaba. He continued his hot streak with his fourth straight double-digit game. Nwaba delivered another well-rounded performance predicated on an unyielding motor and aggressive two-way play. He totally outplayed Denzel Valentine, who made just one of seven shot attempts. Nwaba, a terrific inside finisher, had an antithetical shot profile to the more heralded Valentine.
The Cal-Poly product scored 13 points, making three of six field goal attempts but more importantly slashing inside enough to make seven of eight free throw attempts in just 26 minutes. Nwaba also had six rebounds, a steal, and assist. Oh, and he was a +30 in plus-minus when he was on the floor. The man can flat-out play. It’s nice to see that Hoiberg is letting him cook. Even when Zach LaVine returns, the smart money is on Valentine taking the big minutes hit. Nwaba should be good for 25 minutes of grit when the full Bulls rotation returns.
Valentine was scooped up by Chicago in the 2016 draft at the end of the lottery. Nwaba, 6’4″ with a 7′ wingspan and boundless energy, went un-drafted that same year and had to fight his way through the D-League (re-branded as the G-League this season) before being called up by the Lakers. He looks like the more complete player now.
The Nwaba renaissance (Nwaba-ssance?) could be a real phenomenon, folks. The Bulls are 5-9 with Nwaba on the court, and 1-11 with him off it. That’s not all a credit to his play, but he’s the sort of “glue guy” piece that the Bulls really, really could have used last year when they were actually trying to be good.
The undervalued Nwaba should secure himself some decent free agency change in the offseason after a circuitous road to the NBA. Nwaba has become the Bull du jour after some entrancing recent play, including a showcase of athleticism, hustle and moxie against Kristaps Porzingis and the New York Knicks on Saturday. For those interested (and that should be all of you), Sam Smith, KC Johnson and Blog-A-Bull’s Easy Eis all published some fun recent literature on him.