Torrid long-range shooting boosted the Boston Celtics to victory in the first leg of a road back-to-back amid significant struggles on the glass.
On Saturday, the Celtics will hope to have a more complete effort as they visit the surging Chicago Bulls less than 24 hours after a 130-126 double-overtime win in Brooklyn.
Boston squandered chances against the Nets down the stretch of regulation and in overtime and was outrebounded 58-41. A 22-for-51 effort from beyond the arc — highlighted by six 3-pointers from Payton Pritchard and five from Sam Hauser — proved to be the difference.
Six Celtics logged at least 28 minutes. One of them, Baylor Scheierman, touts the team’s belief in its rotation as the reason Boston feels confident against the rested Bulls and beyond.
“We all know we can impact the game at a high level … and the trust is there between everybody,” Scheierman said.
He added: “We talk about it all the time: Staying ready, knowing what your job is when you come in and doing it at a high level.”
Pritchard paced the Celtics with 32 points while Jaylen Brown (27) and Hauser (19) followed to lead six players in double figures.
Brown, the team’s top scorer at 29.8 points per game, has finished with at least 25 points in eight straight games and 10 of 11 contests in January. The only outlier? A 14-point showing in a Jan. 5 home win against the Bulls.
Chicago enters on a three-game winning streak and is coming off Thursday’s 120-115 victory at Minnesota.
The Bulls trailed by 14 points in the first half and overcame a late Timberwolves run in the fourth quarter to reach the .500 mark. It was a win that guard Josh Giddey said “gives us momentum moving forward.”
While Coby White led the Bulls with 22 points, Giddey followed with 21 off the bench in his first action since sustaining a hamstring injury in a home loss to Minnesota on Dec. 29.
“I feel good. Feel good,” Giddey said. “Obviously, it’s a little different coming off the bench on a minutes restriction but, you know, I’ve done a great job and the medical team has done a great job getting me right, getting me healthy. We didn’t rush the process.”
Chicago went 6-5 in Giddey’s absence and is aiming to climb over .500 for the first time since Nov. 24. The Bulls will look to do so without Tre Jones, who notched a pair of points-assists double-doubles in the past three games but will be re-evaluated in two weeks with a left hamstring strain.
Boston can secure the season series with a victory. The Celtics won the previous meeting 115-101 behind a 27-point effort from Anfernee Simons.
Matas Buzelis paced the Bulls with 26 points while Nikola Vucevic posted a double-double of 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Vucevic has grabbed at least 10 boards in five straight games against the Celtics.
Boston has won eight of the past 10 in the series, including three straight overall and four in a row at the United Center in Chicago.
