1. A basketball game of all time
Coming off of the Celtics vs. Clippers masterful shooting display where both teams played one of the best offense games of the season, Boston went back home to face the Bulls where both teams put up the most offensive shooting game of the season. It’s really impressive that both Jaylen Brown and Derrick White had off shooting nights, yet Boston still came out with a double-digit victory in a game they controlled pretty much the entire way.
A good reason for the slow offensive performance could come down to the jet-lag coming back off of the Celtics west coast trip. They landed yesterday and Payton Pritchard talked about the toll it takes, saying: “Coming off the long flight, long road trip, I don’t think the last three years we’ve been very successful off those. It’s definitely hard. Very jet-lagged and tired, so just to mentally get through it and figure out how to win.”
The biggest reason for the Celtics win was the offensive explosion that Anfernee Simons had in the second half of this game. Simons went off for all 27 of his points in the second half while hitting 8 threes to tie the franchise record of threes in a second half (set by Sam Hauser on 3/10/25 vs. Utah). Simons is also the only player in the NBA to have multiple halves where he scored 25+ points this season, the first coming in Orlando on November 9th.
Simons had a huge third quarter where he scored 12 points and hit 3 threes. His third three was a real highlight where he got on a switch on to Nikola Vucevic and just rose up in front of him to knock down the shot.
To start the fourth quarter, Joe Mazzulla drew up a beautiful play where Simons got a great screen by Neemias Queta that generated him a wide open three that he was able to knock down.
His 7th three is another one I wanted to highlight because you could tell Simons was feeling himself on this one. Once again, he got the switch on to Vucevic and this time he hit him with a step-back three from well beyond the arc that swished in and forced the Bulls to call a timeout.
3. Pritchard’s Big Game
Until Simons had his big second half, the Celtics were having a hard time finding offense. That was when they turned to Payton Pritchard who carried Boston’s scoring, finishing with 21 points on 8-17 shooting from the field and 4-7 shooting from three.
You knew it was going to be a special Pritchard game when he pulled out his signature move: the halftime buzzer beater. With 5 seconds left in the first half, Pritchard stepped back and fired over three Chicago Bulls defenders to drill a three at the buzzer.
Pritchard picked up right where he left off in the third quarter, with 11 points including two threes shot way beyond the arc. The first of which coming from the TD Garden logo over the outstretched arm of Matas Buzelis.
My favorite play of the night from Pritchard came at the 8:08 mark of the third quarter. He snaked around a Neemias Queta screen, pump faked to get Kevin Huerter to jump, then put up the jumper and absorbing the contact for an and-1.
Another player that made a big impact on the Celtics was Neemias Queta who finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds and was a big part of their offense early in the game with his putbacks on the offensive glass. His first possession on offense is a great example of his presence on the glass. After a Pritchard missed shot, Queta was able tip it back up twice and finish the layup on his third attempt.
My favorite play of the night from Queta came at the 1:28 mark of the fourth quarter. Rolling out of screen, Queta received a nice bounce pass from Jaylen Brown. He then went up aggressively on Ayo Dosunmu and finished with a pretty jelly layup for an and-1.
5. Garza Winning Basketball
It feels like every time Luka Garza comes into the game he immediately changes the energy on the court for the Celtics in a positive way. He only finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 blocks, but he really did give Boston a spark off of the bench. A great example of the winning plays that Garza brings came at the 10:39 mark of the second quarter. After Pritchard miss a tough floater, Garza was able to grab the offensive rebound over three Chicago Bulls and put it back in with a hook shot. It’s the little things like grabbing the offensive rebounds and hustling on defense that make Luka Garza a great player for this Celtics team.
Hugo Gonzalez did not have a good shooting game looking at the stat sheet, finishing with 5 points on 1-5 shooting but he did have 7 rebounds in his 12 minutes of play that really impressed me. The play that stood out to me the most came in the third quarter. After Simons missed a corner three, Hugo came sprinting in from the other corner to grab the offensive rebound and find Simons for another wide open three that he was able to knock down.
Simons talked about Gonzalez in his post game interview, saying, “Hugo just going out there and running around. That’s all I say. That’s what I tell him. It’s just, you run around, just making plays, finding a way to impact the game.” That is exactly what I love to hear about a 19-year-old rookie and Hugo will continue to make his presence felt with hustle plays like this.
7. Offensive Rebounding Monsters
In a game where both teams missed a lot of shots, there were a lot of opportunities to grab rebounds. The Celtics won the overall rebounding battle 54-45 but they absolutely dominated the Bulls on the offensive glass, winning in that department 20-6. The Gonzalez play that resulted in a wide open Simons that I mentioned earlier is a great example of the Celtics hustle on the glass. Another great example came in the third quarter where Jaylen Brown missed a three. Brown could have just sulked back on defense given his off shooting night, but instead he ran for his own miss and it resulted in a slam that I am sure felt good.
8. Great defensive mentality on off shooting night
I can’t remember the last time the Celtics won a game while having a lower field goal percentage than their opponent but it happened in this one. Boston shot 42-104 (40%) as a team while Chicago shot 38-86 (44%). The Celtics getting 18 more shot attempts than the Bulls is kind of crazy but all of the offense rebounds they accrued and beating them in the second chance points department 26-12 helped a lot.
This is an example of the Celtics mentality of never giving up on defense and making the extra effort that the other team won’t. Effort really is what it came down to in this game and Boston just showed they wanted it more than Chicago. Joe Mazzulla talked about this in his post game press conference, saying, “For us to not shoot the ball well at all in that first half but to play well defensively, that’s a sign of a mature team. It was impressive.”
9. Celtics honor Dee Brown
When Boston wears their City jerseys at home, they are honoring a Celtics legend of the past and in this game, they were showing love to The One-Man Fastbreak, Dee Brown. The first Brown on the Celtics to wear number 7 played the first 8 years of his career with the Celtics, averaging 11.6 PPG, but is really known for his highlight reel dunking ability. This was on full display in the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest where he won it all with his signature “blind dunk”.
Brown was also recognized for his 21-point game against the Bulls on March 31, 1991, where as a rookie, he went toe-to-toe with Michael Jordan and came out victorious.
Dee Brown also did a jersey swap with Jaylen Brown before the game, which was an awesome sight to see. Brown is a legend in Boston and one of the faces of the Celtics in the 90s and it was really cool to see him get recognized by the Celtics like this.
With the Celtics win over the Bulls and the Knicks getting blown out by the Pistons 121-90, the Boston Celtics now have sole possession of the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference. If you told me before the season started that Boston would be the 2nd seed in the East 35 games into the season, I don’t think I would’ve believed you. Payton Pritchard doesn’t feel like celebrating the Celtics move up in the standings when he was asked about it in his postgame press conference, saying: “I take a lot of pride in being first in the East, so we still need some work to get to that point. That’s the main goal.” I for one, love this mentality.
The story of the Celtics losing Tatum, Holiday, Porzingis, Horford, and Kornet has been told a million times up to this point but it really is insane what this team is doing. You have to have a special group of players, coaches, development staff, and front office to make this kind of turn around after losing 5 rotational piece from a championship winning core. This Celtics team is special and only 3.5 games behind the 1st seeded Pistons. There is a way Boston ends up as the 1st seed in the East in the not so distant future, and that will be a special day.
