Zach LaVine knew the Bulls wouldn’t get the same Celtics team they saw in Boston on Thursday.
And he was right.
The Celtics showed up in Chicago “on their game,” just as LaVine had predicted, which meant he wasn’t recreating his 36-point performance from Thursday night, and there was no need for Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla to make a spirited charge at any officials as time expired.
After a respectable first half that concluded with the Bulls trailing by seven, the Celtics went to work, proving lighting would not strike twice for the Bulls, handing them a 123-98 loss.
Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 19 points and 10 rebounds. LaVine had just 14 points, shooting 4-for-11 from the field.
“I don’t think we played with the same intensity and focus that we did in Boston,” Vucevic said. “Especially in the second half.”
The Bulls doubled Jayson Tatum in the third quarter as he got hot, but it did little to quell his fire. With two seconds left in the third quarter, Tatum fired a three over Lonzo Ball. Before it even fell through the bottom of the net, he was turned, heading in the opposite direction with three fingers raised in the air. He had a triple-double with 43 points, 16 rebounds, and 10 assists.
“Guys in the league are going to have nights like that,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. “But it’s the things around it, and to me, tonight it was rebounding.”
The Celtics expanded on the 14-point lead they took into the fourth quarter with gravity-defying dunks courtesy of Jaylen Brown and Tatums three-point game. Brown added 19 points and Kristaps Porzingis added 22.
After shooting 14-for-56 from three against the Bulls on Thursday, the Celtics had a slightly better night from deep. As a team, they shot 33.3% from behind the arc, but it was Tatum shooting 9-for-15 — including going 3-for-4 in the fourth quarter — from three that carried them. As Tatum headed to the bench in favor of Mazzulla’s reserves, he was met with an ovation from the visiting fans.
The Bulls matched the Celtics three-point shooting percentage. Where they got beat was inside. The Celtics outscored the Bulls 58-34 in the paint and 25-12 on second-chance looks.
“I thought that was the difference in the game tonight,” Donovan said. “We shot it ok, not great either. But I thought the rebounding was a major problem. The game got slowed because we either fouled or we couldn’t get rebounds.”
Saturday was Patrick Williams’ fourth game back following a 10-game absence due to swelling and discomfort in his left foot. He’s still working on reestablishing his rhythm and timing in the flow of games.
“You have to look at the totality of when he had surgery, how long he was out, when he was actually able to get back to paying five on five and the number of games he missed,” Donovan said. “Then he goes out again. For him, it’s going to take a little bit more.”
Thursday, Williams shot 5-for-13, 4-for-9 from deep to finish with 14 points. Saturday, he was still limited to a 20-24 minute restriction and matched that scoring output with 14 points again.
“I still think he’s working his way through some of those things,” Donovan said. “But I do think each game he’s gotten better where he looks like he’s getting back to his normal self.”