Cccccold night in Boston
BOSTON - Before departing Chicago on the first road trip of the season, forward Drew Gooden suggested Friday's visit to Boston would be a good measuring stick for the Bulls.
Well, the Celtics grabbed that stick and smacked the Bulls in the side of the head. The distance between the Bulls and Celtics is still too far to measure, with either a stick or the depth of Boston Harbor.
The Bulls missed an astonishing 28 of their first 32 shots at the TD Banknorth Garden.
There are nights when basketball teams get plenty of good looks and just can't shoot straight. This wasn't one of them. The visitors struggled to get even a blurry view of the rim at the start of this one.
The final tally was a 29.8 field-goal percentage for the Bulls. The performance didn't approach the franchise record-low of 23.4 percent set in the infamous 49-point game against Miami in 1999, but it was still pretty bad.
The final score of 96-80 could have been much worse, but the Bulls were never in the game after falling behind 24-13 at the end of one quarter.
"You've got to give the Celtics credit," Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. "They compete on every possession. We weren't moving the ball from side to side. We were passing it and holding it, passing it and holding it. Never got any type of rhythm, then we were just playing catch-up the whole night."
The way the defending NBA champs clamped down on the Bulls was the NBA equivalent of Buddy Ryan's 46 defense. The only thing missing was a wide-eyed Mike Singletary getting everyone fired up by - forget it, bad analogy.
Forward Tyrus Thomas had a miserable night. The Celtics (2-0) dared him to shoot the midrange jumper, and he went 2 of 17 from the field. On the bright side, Thomas was the team's second-leading scorer with 11 points, thanks to 7 free throws.
"It was just one of them nights," Thomas said. "I couldn't even make a dunk. Every shot I took, except maybe 2 or 3 of them, they felt like they were good, my rhythm was there."
Thomas was hardly the only Bull who struggled to locate the net. Luol Deng was 2-for-10 from the field, Ben Gordon went 3-for-10.
Rookie Derrick Rose led the Bulls (1-1) with 18 points, most of those coming when he drove to the basket or got loose on a fastbreak. The No. 1 draft pick was credited with just 1 assist, but that's what happens when your teammates are ice cold.
Asked if he learned anything from Friday's game, Rose said, "There's no time to wait. Right when you have the opportunity, you have to take it. They don't waste no time when they come out. They mean business."
The Celtics didn't miss a trick or treat defensively. Whenever Rose approached the free-throw circle in the opening quarter, two defenders waited on either side of Rajon Rondo to cut off any potential driving lanes.
When Gordon, at times an unreliable ballhandler, dribbled the ball up, he was trapped before reaching midcourt.
Kevin Garnett finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds for Boston, while Rondo, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen added 14 apiece.