The Boston Celtics exacted some revenge Friday night by earning a 123-119 win over the Chicago Bulls at TD Garden. The Bulls handed Boston its first loss of the season last week.
The Celtics now improve to 5-3 while the Bulls now stand at .500 with a 5-5 record.
Check out the full box score here.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
Jayson Tatum was his usual superstar self, and the Celtics needed it as DeMar DeRozan erupted offensively for the Bulls with a 40-plus-point performance.
But besides Tatum, the rest of the Celtics starters didn’t do much, leading to Boston’s bench coming up massive and being the biggest difference in holding off DeRozan and the Bulls.
Celtics interim head coach Joe Mazzulla gave more minutes to Malcolm Brogdon — he played a season-high in minutes and even was on the floor over Marcus Smart down the stretch — and he delivered by being a catalyst for the reserves. Grant Williams, Sam Hauser and Luke Kornet also produced as Mazzulla has gone with those four primarily after going deeper into the bench in the first few games of the season. All four finished the night with a positive plus-minus.
Due largely to Brogdon’s sizable scoring contribution, the Celtics bench outscored Chicago’s reserves, 41-15.
STARS OF THE GAME
— Tatum had his way with the Bulls, posting a double-double of 36 points and 12 rebounds. Tatum’s terrific performance was aided by his ability to get to the free-throw line, where he made 17-of-20 attempts. The 20 attempts were a career-high. He also recorded six assists in the win.
— Brogdon sparked the bench production with an incredibly efficient showing. Brogdon notched 25 points on 9-of-10 shooting to go along with four assists.
— DeRozan became the latest opponent to explode offensively against the Celtics. The veteran small forward tallied a game-high 46 points to lead the way for the Bulls. He also made regular trips to the charity stripe, hitting 20-of-22 free throws.
WAGER WATCH
Bettors could have cashed in right away if they took Tatum to score the first basket of the game. Tatum opened the scoring with a reverse layup, and with +400 odds to register the first bucket, a $100 bet would have paid out $500.
UP NEXT
The Celtics play the second leg of a back-to-back Saturday when they travel to New York to take on the Knicks. Tipoff between the rivals from Madison Square Garden is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
