Celtics shoot down Bulls
Back in his home town with the NBA's hottest team, Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers tried to argue that the Bulls were back to their old selves after winning four of their previous five games.
"They're back to the Chicago Bulls," Rivers said before the contest. "As (former Arizona Cardinals coach) Dennis Green said, 'They are who we thought they were.' They're playing great."
Not so fast. The Bulls stayed with Boston in just out every phase Saturday night except an important one -- knocking down wide-open jumpers.
The Bulls reverted back to their brick-laying ways, shooting 36 percent from the field in a 92-81 loss to the Celtics at the United Center. Boston improved its NBA-best record to 17-2.
"We're playing a team that's 16-2," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "We shot 36 percent and they shot 51. When the game's over and you look at those numbers, 9 out of 10 nights they're going to beat you."
The Bulls' accuracy got weaker as the game progressed. They shot 31.8 percent as a team in the second half, with leading scorer Ben Gordon going 0-for-10.
"Offensively at times, we just don't look good at all," guard Kirk Hinrich said. "It's something we all just need to focus on and realize that when we're shooting, it's 'our' shot. It's not 'my' shot. It's the team's shot. Hopefully, we'll start knocking them down."
The Bulls (6-12) showed several positive signs during their first look at Boston's "Big Three." The Celtics scored 10 points below their season average and committed 19 turnovers.
Ray Allen led Boston with 21 points, but hit just 6 of 16 shots. Paul Pierce, who never seems to do well against Luol Deng, had 10 points and hit 1 of 8 attempts from the field.
The Celtics' greatest strength on this night wasn't their starpower, but their ball movement. They consistently made the extra pass that resulted in easy baskets. Their best player was second-year point guard Rajon Rondo, who finished with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and hit 9 of 13 shots.
Kevin Garnett had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 7 blocks, but was at his best in the fourth quarter, hitting all 4 of his shots when the Bulls tried to guard him with the smaller Ben Wallace.
"We don't run down to the post and double very often," Skiles said. "We like to help and recover. But the couple times that we helped, he threw it out and they hit shots. It can be an easy game to play with someone like that."
The Bulls trailed 54-50 midway through the third quarter when Gordon missed a fastbreak layup attempt badly with Garnett closing in from the weak side. That began a string of 8 consecutive misses by the Bulls and Boston went ahead 63-52 with 3:16 left in the third.
The Bulls closed within 86-81 with 57.9 seconds left on Andres Nocioni's 3-point play. But all Boston had to do was isolate Garnett for a jumper to seal the outcome.
In the four games this week, Gordon hit 17 of 57 shots (29.8 percent) from the field.
"I've been through this before in my career," he said. "One thing I always stay consistent with is continue to work hard, and I've always gotten over it. When you're in a slump, you've just got to stay confident. You can't stay down on yourself."