Davis, Thomas reunited at the UC

The first day Tyrus Thomas and Glenn "Big Baby" Davis met, as a couple of 8-year-olds playing ball at the rec center, they became best friends.

"I met him at the gym," Thomas said. "I went home with him one day, the next day he came to my house. It's been like that ever since."

Saturday was special for Thomas, because it was the first time the two Baton Rouge, La., natives suited up in the same NBA game. As college teammates, they led LSU to the 2006 Final Four.

"It feels good, it really does," Thomas added. "That's like my brother. There would be times I'd come home and he'd be at my house eating. My family would just take him in and his family would do the same to me."

Davis, a 6-9 power forward, collected 8 points and 12 rebounds for Boston, while Thomas stayed on the bench for the second straight game. Joe Smith has played well as a starter and Joakim Noah is contributing off the bench, so Thomas' playing time dried up.

"Tyrus just needs to stay ready and when he's called on, go in and perform," coach Scott Skiles said.

Celts getting stops: The most surprising part of the new-look Celtics might be that they've been the league's best defensive team, ranking first in points allowed (88.1) and opponents' field-goal percentage (.415).

"It's been an easy sell, too," Boston coach Doc Rivers said before the game. "Clearly when we made the trade, people were talking about offense and they were asking me, 'Are you going to need three basketballs' and all that stuff. That night, I kept saying, 'You're missing the defensive transaction we made getting Kevin Garnett.' "

It was tough to tell how good Boston's defense was on Saturday. The Bulls shot 36 percent, but missed a ton of open looks.

Best with a rest: Before the game, Bulls coach Scott Skiles was asked if it bothered him that all of Boston's starters sat out the fourth quarter in the previous night's blowout win over Toronto.

"We've been on the other end of some of those (blowout losses)," Skiles joked. "My starters weren't playing either in the fourth quarter."

Bull horns: Ben Wallace's free-throw streak ended at 8 in a row when he missed his first attempt of the night. He knocked down his next 2, though, which means he's hit 10 of his last 11. ... Boston's James Posey, who had a tendency to commit flagrant fouls against the Bulls when he played for Miami, was consistently booed by the home fans on Saturday. "Pose, he's our (Andres) Nocioni, I guess," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.