The Boston Celtics fended off a scrappy Chicago Bulls squad to leave TD Garden with a 107-99 win Monday night.
The Celtics improved their NBA-best record to 29-12 while the Bulls dropped to 19-22.
Check out the full box score here.
ONE BIG TAKEAWAY
It took a while for the Celtics to finally settle into this matchup without Marcus Smart running the show, but they were able to thanks to a timely breakout by Jayson Tatum and an unfortunate injury to Bulls star DeMar DeRozan.
Chicago worked down Boston’s lead to just two points a few minutes into the third quarter, making it look like the Bulls were going to improve their record to 7-1 against the Celtics, Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets this season. Then Jayson Tatum happened.
Tatum went on a 9-0 run by his lonesome across just 1:07 of game time, extending the Celtics lead to 13 points halfway through the period. Just before that run, DeRozan went down with a non-contact injury before he would eventually be pulled from the game for good with a quad contusion.
Throughout the remaining 18 minutes, Chicago would stage a couple of comeback attempts but ultimately fall short. A bad shooting team from beyond the arc, the Bulls couldn’t keep up with the Celtics without DeRozan’s mid-range excellence.
