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 Once again the Bulls created an offensive surge by playing better
defense in a 101-92 victory against the Boston Celtics on Thursday
at the United Center.
Trailing 43-33 late in the second quarter, Chicago outscored Boston
15-4 in the final four minutes to grab a 48-47 halftime lead and
roll to a comfortable win.
"That's what really won us the game," Jimmy Butler said of the
Bulls' defensive uptick. "We were out there guarding, we rebounded,
and we got a lot of easy baskets. When we're playing like that, we
look really good out there."
Butler and Pau Gasol each had double-doubles to lead the Bulls
(22-12), who had six players score in double figures -- including
all five starters. Butler had 19 points and 10 assists, while Gasol
totaled 17 points and 18 rebounds for his 19th double-double this
season.
The Celtics (19-17) were coached by assistant Jay Larranaga while
head coach Brad Stevens visited Andrew Smith, a former player of his
from Butler University who is hospitalized in Indiana with
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Larranaga, 40, got his first taste of running an NBA bench after
joining the Celtics in 2012 as an assistant.
"Brad always says that the focus is to win the next game, one
possession at a time, and that's really how I approached it," said
Larranaga.
"I was obviously thinking about Brad and wanting to represent him
well and our players ... wanting to do right by them."
Seven Celtics players finished with double-digit points, including
all five starters. Jae Crowder (17 points) and Kelly Olynyk (16
points) led the way for Boston, who have dropped their last two
games and four of their past five.
Chicago got additional double-digit scoring from Derrick Rose (18
points), Nikola Mirotic (11 points), Taj Gibson (10 points) and Tony
Snell (10 points).
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All six of the Bulls' wins in the streak have come against Eastern
Conference opponents, and Chicago improved to 13-8 against the East.
"(Defense) is a difference-maker for us," Gasol said. "Offensively,
we're going to be fine, because have a lot of talent and a lot of
weapons.
"It's when we play defensively the way we need to, when we
communicate and get into people, when we box out, when we help each
other out ... then we can beat anybody."
Isaiah Thomas (14 points), Jared Sullinger (13 points), Amir Johnson
(12 points), Evan Turner (10 points) and Marcus Smart (10 points)
also reached double figures for the Celtics.
The Bulls, who came into the game ranked ninth in the NBA with an
average of 102.2 points a game, scored 100-plus points in their
ninth straight outing.
Boston used an early 12-3 run to spark a 27-21 lead after the first
and led for most of the second quarter. It did not hold up, as the
Bulls turned up the heat defensively to seize the lead by halftime
and keep going.
"They had a big second quarter," Crowder said. "Things kind of
changed at that point. After the half, we came back a little
sluggish and then couldn't get it back until the fourth quarter,
which was a little too late."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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