Bulls hone in from long range and beat East-leading Celtics
This result sat somewhere on the border between "The Bulls solved all their problems" and "Hitting some 3-point shots makes everything better."
The Bulls went 14-for-29 from 3-point range and stayed in control throughout a 121-107 victory over East-leading Boston. DeMar DeRozan led the way with 28 points, while Patrick Williams scored a season-high 17.
This result could be called unexpected because the Bulls ended a four-game losing skid and snapped the Celtics' nine-game win streak. Boston is now 13-4 on the season, and two of the four losses have come at the United Center.
"Big time, we've lost a lot in a row and they've won a lot in a row," Zach LaVine said. "I think we're a really good team but we go through little lapses where we play bad. That's how fast the game can change. We don't want to dig ourselves into too deep of a hole to where you're just hoping and praying."
The Bulls (7-10) had gone seven straight games without shooting 40% from 3-point range. They were below 27.5% in three of the last four contests. But this was their second-best performance from 3-point land this season, behind the Oct. 26 win over Indiana.
Coming off the worst shooting night of his Bulls career (1 of 14), LaVine was much better against Boston. He scored 22 points on 8 of 20 shooting and hit a couple of important 3-pointers in the fourth quarter when the Celtics were threatening to get back in it.
"I just went out there and played hard," said LaVine, who had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in May. "I missed some easy shots. Even the game where I went 1 for 14, my shot felt good. So it's getting there.
"I'm missing shots I normally don't but I'm going to keep shooting them with confidence, keep trying to get downhill. Legs are starting to feel better."
Leading by 16 at the end of three quarters, the Bulls had a rough start to the fourth when two players backed away from Malcolm Brogdon and watched him drain a wide-open 3-pointer. The Celtics got within 8 points a couple of times, but LaVine twice hit 3-pointers to stall the momentum.
The Bulls seemed to make a more concerted effort to work inside-out and give center Nikola Vucevic some touches against a small Boston front line, while setting screens to create even greater height mismatches.
"I think when we got it to him quickly, it was really impactful," coach Billy Donovan said. "I think you have to do that because not only do we have a really good low-post player in Vuc and a really good passer, it just punishes the switches sometimes."
When the third quarter started, the Bulls pulled Vucevic outside and spent a few minutes trying to attack off the dribble. That worked well too, with both Williams and Ayo Dosunmu scoring multiple times at the rim. Williams was left open early in the game and knocked down 3 of 4 attempts from 3-point range.
"Obviously they had a game plan of heavy shifts, kind of making other guys make shots," Williams said. "I think a lot of guys stepped up and made open shots. We're at our best when we're not thinking too much, we're just out there playing off instinct."
Coby White made his first contributions since returning from a quad injury. He came up with a steal, blocked shot and scored 4 of his 9 points in the fourth quarter.
Goran Dragic was limited after suffering a left shoulder injury, which Donovan thought was a stinger. Dragic stole a pass in the first quarter and was hit by Boston's Sam Hauser. He did return to play short stints in the second and third quarters.
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