The Celtics continued their torrid stretch despite missing contributors, this time in a 124-113 win over the Bulls on Saturday in Chicago. The C’s improved to 57-14 on the season as they also won their ninth straight game. The Bulls dropped to 34-37.
Initially, the Bulls came to play after a hot start. Chicago held an early lead, but the Celtics quickly came back as the 3-pointers continued to come easy. The C’s finished 21-for-48 (43.8%) from beyond the arc Saturday. That allowed the Celtics some wiggle room despite the Bulls playing well on their home court Saturday to start off the night.
The Bulls and Celtics were competitive down the stretch of the second half. But for the most part, it was the Celtics maintaining a modest lead over the Bulls without letting them get over the hump. Then the Celtics were able to build up a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter to help secure the victory.
Jayson Tatum poured in 26 points and six assists, while Sam Hauser added 23 points. Al Horford also had 23 points and eight rebounds. DeMar DeRozan had 28 points and nine assists for the Bulls.
The Celtics take on the Hawks at 7:30 p.m. Monday in Atlanta as part of their six-game road trip. Here are four takeaways from Boston’s over Chicago:
Continued strong play: This final stretch of the season could be remembered for Payton Pritchard because the reserve guard just continues to contribute in his added minutes. This time, it was 15 points and eight assists in his 34 minutes off the bench. But it wasn’t just him: Luke Kornet continues to make his case to get some potential playoff minutes. He finished with eight points, 13 rebounds and four assists, with five offensive rebounds. Those guys are just showing off how deep the Celtics’ bench goes.
Heating up: Even though Hauser missed a couple games because of a sprained ankle, that hasn’t slowed him down with his play on the court. Hauser poured in 23 points Saturday, shooting 7-for-8 from 3-point land. He already came into Saturday’s game hitting 47.2% of his 3s in March, so he just keeps upping those percentages. Hauser’s impressed all season as he hasn’t an extended shooting slump like last year. The Celtics will hope Hauser can keep up his hot shooting the playoffs as he’s been a consistent rotation player throughout the season.
Resting players: Expect the Celtics to continue missing contributors for some of these regular-season games down the stretch. On Saturday, it was Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday who all sat. That should be expected as the C’s have virtually locked up the No. 1 seed in the East. Of course, what’s impressive is that they also keep winning games in the meantime with half their lineup suiting up some nights. That’s a nod to the Celtics’ depth and professionalism as they haven’t skipped any steps in recent games. So while fans miss out on stars during the regular season, most supporters are likely looking toward the playoffs anyway.
Playoff race: It’s not much of a tightly-contested race at this point of the season as the Celtics are now 11.5 games ahead of the Bulls with only 11 games left on the season. Now, technically, they haven’t quite clinched the No. 1 seed yet. Boston has the 2-1 tiebreaker over Milwaukee, but there’s still one game between the teams left on the schedule set for April 9 in Milwaukee. So that’s why the Celtics aren’t quite celebrating that they’ve got the top spot in their conference. But the C’s are right at the doorstep there with their magic number down to one.
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