This was the Celtics’ first home game since the death of Jim Loscutoff on December first. The team held a moment of silence before tip and the players wore black shoulder bands and green “LOSCY” warm-up shirts. And then, after the opening tip, a team of lunch-pail players went out and outworked the Bulls, from the starters all the way to the last guy off the bench, and that was probably an even more fitting tribute to Loscutoff the player than the shirts and the pregame recognition. That effort paid off, as the Celtics beat the Bulls 105-100.
The Celtics started off looking every bit like this was going to be an Admiral Akbar level trap game, or at the very least, a throwback to early in the season when the bench was left bailing out the starters on a regular basis. The Bulls had an eight point lead after six minutes as the Celtics were barely among those present for the game. A few early substitutions, including a very early appearance by James Young, and the Celtics came to life. They closed the quarter on fire and after 12 minutes, the score was tied 24-24.
The game went back and forth throughout the 2nd, with the Celtics getting crisp ball movement against some surprisingly soft Bulls perimeter defense. The highlight of the second quarter for the Celtics was Evan Turner’s breakaway 360 dunk. It was the Evan Turnerest thing of the night–this is a guy who has, on more than one occasion this year missed conventional dunks.
Toward the end of the half, the Celtics got sloppy and the Bulls started to play with more precision, and they ended the half on a minor run, taking a 3 point lead into the break, 54-51. Somewhat surprisingly, the Celtics and Bulls were neck-and-neck without a peep from Isaiah Thomas, who finished the half with 3 assists, 2 turnovers and no points.
Stevens stuck with his starters for much of the third quarter, and those starters came out of the gate in a hurry, turning a 3 point halftime deficit into a 5 point lead behind a pair of Isaiah Thomas three pointers. The Celtics didn’t get to enjoy that lead for long before Chicago started to chip away at it, eventually building a 4 point lead of their own. The Celtics came back and the third quarter ended in a 75-75 tie.
The fourth quarter was when the Celtics’ depth made the difference. The bench crew started the quarter off on a 10-2 run over the first five minutes and that pretty much settled the game. The Bulls battled back, tightening the Celtics’ lead to an uncomfortable 3 points, before the Celtics responded with a little 5-0 run, putting the game out of reach, despite an amazing performance by Jimmy Butler over the final minutes.
Green
The whole team. No individual performances stood out tonight–everybody on the team delivered.
Gross
Avery Bradley’s three point shooting: 0-6. Or, as we call it in statistics, ‘regression to mean’.
Greenlights
Another look at the Turner steal and 360 dunk. https://t.co/QrhTHY62Dn
— Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) December 10, 2015
IT and-1 ties the game at 75 headed to the fourth quarter. https://t.co/JHv01SJ8nC — Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) December 10, 2015
David Lee out here DUNKING! https://t.co/N0EIJL3LLB
— Celtics Direct™ (@CelticsDirect) December 10, 2015
The Grid
Every Celtic that scored, scored in double figures.
Think about that for a minute. This was a team effort win.
