Exhaustion. Injuries. Travel. None are excuses, but all were very present on Saturday night. The Boston Celtics entered the United Center having just battled their way to an overtime victory over the Brooklyn Nets less than 24 hours prior.
As for the Chicago Bulls, they walked onto the court having won three straight. And as the game got going, it was clear: Those wins had them in a rhythm.
Kevin Huerter’s game-winner was a perfect embodiment of Chicago’s night, as the Celtics fell just a few points short.
But how did the Celtics get to that point?
1. The Bulls couldn’t miss
If a Bull shot a three-pointer on Saturday night, it felt like it was going in. At the start of the game, the Celtics could have been a bit better with their closeouts. Chicago made some triples in transition, and it got them going.
But by the time the second half was fully underway, they were making everything.
Everything.
At one point, Derrick White was mere inches away from blocking Ayo Dosunmu’s three in transition, and he still nailed the shot.
Boston’s defense is rooted in helping on drives and rotating back out to the three-point line for late contests. They did that. But Chicago was not affected by the late contests.
2. Jaylen Brown was the offense
Boston’s entire offensive flow ran through Jaylen Brown on Saturday night. If the ball was not in his hands, it was more than likely going to be a rough possession.
He was a man on a mission for the entire game. Brown wasn’t hot from distance, but on drives and in the mid-range, he was on a heater. And the Celtics needed every last morsel of offense he provided them.
Chicago guarded him with one-on-one coverage in the early portion of Saturday night, but as the game went on, they began to send more pressure. But that didn’t faze Brown.
Instead of panicking, he simply made the right reads and created a ton of quality shots for the rest of the Celtics. He was the fulcrum.
3. Anfernee Simons was the Robin to Brown’s Batman
And if Brown was Batman, Anfernee Simons was his Robin.
Though Simons finished with only 21 points, it was an extremely efficient 21. He shot 8-of-16 from the floor and 5-of-11 from deep range. It seemed as though every shot he made came at a timely moment.
As Boston desperately sought out offensive production that wasn’t named ‘Jaylen Brown,’ Simons was the light at the end of the tunnel.
4. Derrick White keeps on slumping
Unfortunately, White was the opposite.
White will almost never have a game where he doesn’t make an impact. He’s an elite defender, and in the fourth quarter on Saturday, he made some clutch offensive plays for Boston, too.
But White was the opposite of Simons on Saturday. In a game where, again, the Celtics need any semblance of offensive production from their role players, White fell flat.
His shot escape him, his floater escaped him, and at one point in the game, it looked as though he was changing his form. White seemingly slowed down his jumper as the game went on, likely in an attempt to escape the slump that has washed over him in recent weeks.
5. The bigs weren’t there
Rookie center Amari Williams earned the first start of his career against the Bulls, fresh off a game-sealing block against the Nets on Friday night.
Unfortunately, it didn’t look like he was quite ready to play heavy NBA minutes. Williams seemed a step slow, and his screen timing was off in most situations. He only ended up playing 10:08.
But Boston’s other bigs were in a state of disarray. Neemias Queta has been battling an illness for a couple of days, and Luka Garza, who was already sporting an ankle brace, tweaked that same ankle in his first stint.
That left the Celtics without the usual pop they get from their centers. A room that constantly provides Boston with invaluable screening, rolling, and popping wasn’t nearly as present as usual.
6. The final shot
Huerter sent the Celtics packing. It was a corner three that did the trick. But how did he get so open?
Well, it seemed to be a miscommunication at the top of the key.
When Coby White went to set a screen for Josh Giddey, he slipped it. So, when Sam Hauser tried to switch, Hugo Gonzalez didn’t. That left both Celtics on the ball.
White had to rotate over from the corner, which left Queta guarding the corner and Matas Buzelis in the dunker spot. He helped over to the corner just a second too late, and Huerter nailed the three.
It all seemed to stem from Gonzalez not switching in the pick-and-roll, but White slipping the screen certainly threw Boston off.
(And no, Payton Pritchard’s final shot wouldn’t have counted even if it went in.)
