At the start of the weekend, the evening is busy in the NBA, with no less than twelve games on the program. And the most beautiful poster is undoubtedly this Celtics – Bulls in Boston, between these two ambitious clubs currently positioned in the Top 6 of the Eastern Conference.
A disputed match, the outcome of which took shape at the very end of the game, in “money-time”. After 7 ties and 7 changes of leader in the score, it was the Celtics who came out after an intense duel (123-119), carried by a Jayson Tatum XXL (36 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists) , author of decisive throws in the last moments.
For their part, the Bulls were generally dominated and chasing the score throughout the match, but never gave up, giving their opponents a hard time until the end, under the impetus of a huge DeMar DeRozan (46 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals). The visitors even came close to a ‘hold-up’ when they came down to -2 with less than two minutes remaining, after trailing 14 points in the third quarter, but failed to score the shots who would have left their KO opponents standing.
WHAT YOU MUST REMEMBER
– Malcolm Brogdon, the Celtics’ X factor. Coming off the bench, the veteran rear scored 25 of the 40 points of the Celtics substitutes, coming close to faultless (9/10). He added 4 assists and an impeccable defense on the opposing ball carriers, to offer himself a perfect match of factor X, in relay of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
– An awesome duel of All-Star wingers. Jayson Tatum and DeMar DeRozan delivered a sensational match within the match, carrying their respective teams the whole way. If it is the first who leaves with the victory, after an effort punctuated with 36 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists, it is the second who signed the most consistent individual performance, with 46 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 interceptions. Greedy in shots, with 23 attempts each (8 successes for Celtic, 13 for the Bull), the two wingers mainly composed their “scoring” on the free throw line: 17/20 for Jayson Tatum, 20/22 for DeMar DeRozan!
TOPS/FLOPS
✅ Nikola Vucevic. His performance is overshadowed by that of teammate DeMar DeRozan, but “Vooch” did indeed put out a big game, with 24 points (10/14) and 12 rebounds, and the best +/-, tied with the winger at 46 points, with +10. We saw him very comfortable and well placed in attack, which was not always the case last year. Defensively, however, still the same limitations, especially on “pick-and-roll”, but the desire to do well was there, at least.
⛔️ The Bulls on half court. Despite a very good general address (52%), but above all inflated by the consistent performances of DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, the Bulls were not very convincing on half-court. Their ratio of 21 assists for 17 ball losses is the statistical confirmation, and visually, we too often had the impression of knowing how it was going to end: in isolation for DeMar DeRozan or Zach LaVine. The Bulls clearly still have room for improvement to fine-tune their half-court attack.
THE FOLLOWING
– Celtics (5-3) : “back-to-back” in New York (0h30)
– Bulls (5-5) : trip to Toronto, on the night of Sunday to Monday (00:00)
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