Jayson Tatum had 35 points and 14 rebounds and Payton Pritchard came off the bench to score 29 points as the visiting Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls 138-129 on Friday in the fourth NBA Cup game for each team.
Tatum’s free throw handed Boston a 125-115 lead with 4:11 to play. Chicago sliced its deficit to three points on Zach LaVine’s 3-pointer with 3:05 left but failed to get any closer after that.
Pritchard made 7 of 11 3-point attempts and scored 19 in the fourth quarter. Boston received 21 points from both Kristaps Porzingis and Jaylen Brown.
Chicago fell to 2-2 in the NBA Cup and was eliminated. The Bulls would have advanced as the East Group C champion with a victory.
Any chance Boston had of winning the group disappeared when Atlanta beat Cleveland 117-101 on Friday, since the Hawks beat the Celtics 117-116 in an NBA Cup game on Nov. 12. Atlanta is the East Group C champion with a 3-1 mark. The Celtics, also 3-1, have a slim chance to move on in the tournament as a wild card.
Nikola Vucevic scored 32 points and had 11 rebounds for Chicago in the loss. LaVine added 29 points, hitting four 3-pointers. With his third 3-pointer, he passed Kirk Hinrich for most made treys in franchise history, and he ended the game with 1,051 3-pointers in his Bulls career.
Boston grabbed its first double-digit lead on Porzingis’ dunk that put the Celtics in front 23-12 with 5:38 left in the opening quarter. The Celtics extended their lead to 33-20 on Tatum’s 3-pointer and led 39-30 after 12 minutes. Boston made 9 of 16 3-point attempts in the opening quarter.
The Bulls used a 16-3 spurt to tie the score 42-42, and an 11-0 run later in the second quarter gave Chicago a 55-46 advantage. Boston answered with a 14-0 run capped by Derrick White’s 3-pointer that gave the Celtics a 60-55 edge. It was 67-67 at halftime.
A 13-2 run gave Chicago an 80-72 lead with 8:08 left in the third quarter, but the score was tied 96-96 entering the fourth.
White left the game with a foot injury in the second half and did not return. He finished with 16 points in 24 minutes.
–Field Level Media
