Celts get back at Bulls
Net shorthanded win at home
Not once thinking he would have to be the guy who had to be replaced, Jae Crowder said “next man up” when asked on Tuesday how the Celtics would make up for missing the concussed Al Horford last night.
When the Celtics forward hopped off the floor with a sprained left ankle in the second quarter, the question went out again. The answer — a 14-point third quarter from Amir Johnson that included 4-for-4 3-point shooting against generous Bulls coverage — couldn’t have been imagined by the Big Dog himself.
But Johnson’s eruption was just what the Celtics needed with Crowder getting a halftime X-ray and Horford at home attempting to rest his way out of concussion protocol. The result, anyway, was a 107-100 win over Chicago that marked the Bulls’ first loss of the season after a 3-0 start. Both teams are now 3-1 with the Celtics’ only loss coming at the hands of the Bulls last Thursday in Chicago.
“We owed them — we definitely owed them,” said Johnson.
Johnson finished with probably his finest night as a Celtic with 23 points, six rebounds, three assists and four improbable 3-pointers. Except for the last bomb — a step-back in the corner that was actually guarded by the Bulls — Johnson had an almost comical amount of time to load up for his shot.
“When he takes that long to release it, it’s probably going in,” said teammate Isaiah Thomas. “He felt good. He got the right shots. We rotated the ball to him, he set his feet and knocked them down. He’d been talking all week about how he’s been shooting it. He helped us a lot, a big key to this win tonight.”
Back-to-back hoops from Thomas and Marcus Smart with 1:23 and 25.2 seconds left respectively gave the Celtics the narrow cushion they needed. Johnson was a factor here, too, tapping the rebound of a Thomas miss out to Avery Bradley, giving Brad Stevens time to call time and set up the Smart basket.
Smart, in his first game of the season after missing time since training camp with a right ankle sprain, produced his usual blend of sweet and sour basketball with seven points (on 2-for-8 shooting), five assists, five rebounds and six turnovers.
The Celtics’ rebounding deficiency finally cost them dearly following Butler’s 11th point of the fourth quarter. Thomas missed a wild runner, and the Bulls responded with a four-shot possession that found the Celtics struggling to get a hand on the ball. Bobby Portis finally finished off the possession with a putback that cut the Celtics lead to 100-98 with 2:24 left.
Bradley came out of the timeout with a missed drive, and the Celtics guard fouled Nicola Mirotic attempting to grab the rebound. The Bulls sniper hit both free throws for a 100-100 tie.
But Johnson was fouled by Portis, rimmed out the first free throw attempt and bounced through the second for a one-point lead.
Jonas Jerebko fouled Mirotic, the wrong guy to send to the line, though he missed twice.
Thomas scored in traffic with a floater, switching the ball from his left to right hand to get off the shot over the trees.
Asked about going to his non-shooting hand, the guard smiled.
“It was like (Michael) Jordan in the ’ 91 Finals against the Lakers, when he went up with the right and switched it to the left, but I did it the other way,” he said. “Nah. That’s the only way I could have got it off. He almost blocked it and I just made a move.”
Rajon Rondo answered Thomas’ floater with a 20foot air ball, and Johnson made the big play again, this time tapping the rebound of a Thomas miss out to Bradley.
The Celtics called a timeout with 12 seconds on the shot clock and 34 seconds left overall, and came out of it with a play for Smart, whose wheeling hook gave the Celtics a 105-100 lead with 25.2 seconds left.
Bradley harassed Butler into a 3-point air ball, and Isaiah Canaan missed from the other end of the floor to end Chicago’s chances.
But Johnson wasn’t the only Celtic to fill the Horford/Crowder void last night. Tyler Zeller, an emergency starter, scored the first five points of the fourth quarter for an 86-70 Celtics lead, before Butler started to shoot Chicago back into the game.
But now for the larger test — a game tonight against the NBA champion Cavaliers.
“Very tough,” said Thomas. “Last year we lost a backto-back and beat the Warriors at their arena without Jae Crowder. There’s no excuses, they’re not going to feel sorry for us. Get our rest tonight and be ready for prime-time TV tomorrow.”