Teams in the NBA try to mimic the style of the previous NBA Champions. When the Warriors were at the top of the run, each team looked for their own version of a death lineup. Switching became the go-to defensive style.
After the Boston Celtics won the 2023-24 NBA championship on the strength of their elite three-point shooting and five-out offense, NBA teams have started to mimic their play. The Bulls’ emphasis on playing faster and hoisting more threes is in part because of how the Celtics blitz teams with their three-point prowess.
The Bulls were hanging in the game with the defending NBA champions until Jaylen Brown rejected a screen at the top of the key, drove toward the lane with his left hand, and exploded to the rim to posterize center Jalen Smith and forced coach Billy Donovan to call timeout. The Celtics led by three after the contact dunk and didn’t relent in their 138-129 win over the Bulls.
The Bulls were able to compete with one of the NBA’s best teams by beating them at their own game. For three quarters, the Bulls were beating the Celtics at their own game.The Bulls controlled the pace, made their threes and limited the turnovers.
“I think we played them well,” said guard Zach LaVine, who scored 29 points. “We made some mistakes. They have some really good players on their team. I think a couple runs where they hit some threes [and] we might have had some turnovers or missed shots, but I think we played really good, at least towards our identity.”
Miscommunication from the Bulls led to some wide-open shots for guard Payton Pritchard, who routinely torched the Bulls in the fourth quarter (19 points) and finished with 29 for the game. He also had four offensive rebounds.
“You look down the stat sheet and you look at the overall rebounding, and it’s not like we got pounded on the glass,” Donovan said. “I just thought there were really timely ones on missed shots, free throws that we got to come down with, where the game is a possession or two. That’s big.”
The Bulls weren’t able to keep up their level of play from the first half. The Celtics just had too much firepower and cohesion. Forward Jayson Tatum finished with 35 points.
“There were some rebounds that we couldn’t quite come down with,” Donovan said. “A couple fouls that we probably need to be a little bit more disciplined on, and a couple switches, and we just don’t have that margin for error.”
The Bulls showed that they could compete with one of the NBA’s best. But it’s about sustaining this level of play against other opponents. Against most teams, the Bulls’ 129 points would be enough to snatch a victory. But the little details against teams the caliber of the Celtics matter most and can swing the game’s outcome.
“At this level, it’s not a huge gap between the best teams and the middle team, bottom teams,” center NikolaVucevic said. “We know we can compete against those teams. Can we do it consistently? Can we do it every night?”
LaVine brought up a stretch during the fourth quarter where he missed a transition three that turned into two points for the Celtics. Guard Ayo Dosunmu then missed a two-pointer on the next possession that turned into a three. A three-point Boston lead turned into an eight-point lead with two minutes remaining.
“Little stuff like that … that’s the breaking point in the game,” LaVine said.