Despite an impressive, unbeaten opening week to the season, Jayson Tatum was far from satisfied. His first career NBA Finals appearance taught him what championship standards look like, and he knew the Celtics had a lot of work to do to reach those heights.
Monday night proved it.
On a frustrating night in Chicago, the Celtics’ biggest weaknesses were exposed in their first loss of the season. Their defense continued to be nonexistent, they were smoked on the boards and their tendency to whine about the officiating haunted them, as both Joe Mazzulla and Grant Williams were ejected. The Celtics couldn’t overcome any of it in an ugly 120-102 loss to the Bulls.
The Celtics got away with some of their early flaws, overcoming some in-game adversity to start 3-0, but it unraveled for them quickly.
For a brief, fleeting moment, it looked like the Celtics would actually cruise to a perfect road trip. They led 12-0 to start the game, and held a commanding 19-point first-quarter lead over – at least on paper – an inferior Bulls team. But Chicago flipped the script in a hurry and the C’s never recovered.
In a stunning, and for the Celtics, an inexcusable turn of events, they let their guard down. Much like the first three games of the season, their defense turned disastrous. And after a sizzling shooting start – as the C’s began 8-for-10 from long distance – fueled by 15 early points from Tatum, the offense went cold. The results were hideous to watch.
After the Celtics took a 35-16 lead on a Marcus Smart 3-pointer, the Bulls turned the tables. By early in the second quarter, they took the lead on Goran Dragic’s layup and with two minutes to go in the half, took a double-digit lead on Ayo Dosunmu’s 3-pointer, as Chicago got whatever they wanted offensively. The Bulls went on a 49-14 run before Smart made five consecutive points – including a buzzer-beating 3 – to end the half.
