Celtics hand Bulls historic beating
CHICAGO — The Boston Celtics turned in a record-setting performance on Saturday in their steady climb in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
Jaylen Brown scored 23 points off the bench and Daniel Theis added a career-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Celtics routed the Chicago Bulls 133-77 for their fifth straight win.
The 56-point margin of victory was the largest in franchise history, surpassing a 51-point win (153-102) over the Philadelphia Warriors on March 7, 1962. The winning differential also tied the mark by an NBA road team, set by Seattle in a 136-80 victory in Houston on Dec 6, 1986.
The Celtics (15-10) overmatched and sped past the woeful Bulls from the opening tip and never let up.
“I thought our guys were really locked in,” said Boston coach Brad Stevens.
“They played hard all the way through. The offense has gotten better over the last couple of weeks. We just have to keep building on it.”
Jayson Tatum had 18 points and Terry Rozier added 15 as the Celtics used a 17-0 start and a balanced attack to roll to their second straight lopsided win after pounding the New York Knicks 128-100 last Thursday.
Boston has outscored opponents an average of 126.2 to 97.6 during its five-game run.
“I think since the last five games we’ve been moving the ball very well, probably averaging 30 assists in every game we won,” Theis said.
The 56-point loss was the worst in Bulls’ history, eclipsing a 53-point (127-74) defeat at Minnesota on Nov 8, 2001.
“Disappointing effort, disappointing outcome at home,” coach Jim Boylen said.
“But you’ve got to give Boston credit. They made the shots and kind of punched us and we didn’t respond.”
Shaquille Harrison came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points for the Chicago, which has lost eight of nine. Zach LaVine had 11 for the Bulls (6-21), whose previous worst loss this season was by 39 points (122-83) to Toronto on Nov 17.
“We all should be embarrassed,” LaVine said.
The Bulls fell flat after beating Oklahoma City 114-112 on Friday night on Lauri Markkanen’s layup in the closing seconds, giving Boylen his first win as an NBA head coach.
A longtime NBA assistant, Boylen took over last Monday when Fred Hoiberg was fired following a 5-19 start.
The Bulls lost at Indiana the following night in Boylen’s debut.
The Celtics took charge early in this one, racing ahead 17-0 as they shot 8 for 11 from the floor at the start.
Boston led 35-17 after one quarter as it shot 60.9 percent, and led 64-43 at the half thanks to 52.4-percent shooting.
For the game, the Celtics outshot Chicago 53.8 percent to 38.3 percent.
The scoring in Boston’ first-half outburst was evenly distributed. Marcus Morris led with 12 points, while Tatum, Theis and Rozier each had 10.
The Celtics have scored at least 115 points in five straight games in their winning streak, their longest such run since doing it six consecutive times in March 1988.
Boylen said he celebrated his first victory as an NBA head coach on Friday night at home with his family.
“We had a bowl of cereal with the kids and watched ‘Family Feud’ on TV,” he said.