Three things from Celtics-Bulls

Another game, another victory for the Boston Celtics. This time, over the Chicago Bulls, who shot a blistering 57.3% from the field. Despite that, Boston pulled off a win thanks to their three-point shooting and offensive rebounding.

Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis, and Jrue Holiday all sat out against Chicago, once again displaying Boston’s health-first priorities. So once again, here are some niche observations.

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1. Celtics’ defensive switching

The key to being one of the best defensive teams in the league is connectivity. Boston has been on the same page all year, with a healthy dose of Holiday’s free-safety play mixed in.

Here, Coby White drives into the lane and gets Luke Kornet on him after a Nikola Vucevic screen.

Kornet cuts off White’s drive perfectly, so the Bulls guard is forced to take the ball back out. Rather than following him, Jayson Tatum simply picks White up again, and he’s forced to take a tough mid-range jumper.

Chicago is at fault for this play, too. Vucevic should have rolled harder, forcing Kornet to float between the two bodies. But Boston’s togetherness to switch this back without even talking is a very small, underappreciated detail of their defense.

It may seem obvious, and the Bulls may not have executed well, but the Celtics’ defense still deserves credit.

2. Tatum-White high PnR

These are the types of plays fans have been begging the Celtics to run at the end of games.

Derrick White handles the ball by the logo, and Tatum goes all the way out to run a high pick-n-roll. The other three Celtics players are spacing the floor to the corners, giving them a free run of the middle of the floor.

Ayo Dosunmu fights past the screen, but since Tatum set it so high up the floor, he has a ton of space to work with. Torrey Craig is anticipating a re-screen and trying to deny Tatum the ball, so he spins past him and into the lane.

White feeds him the ball on the drive, the entire defense sucks in, and Tatum hits Pritchard in the corner for a wide-open three. A beautiful play executed to perfection. Pritchard just missed the shot.

3. Oshae Brissett’s hustle

With Boston’s myriad of absences, Oshae Brissett has been earning some extra playing time. And while his offensive game is lacking, his hustle has been huge.

The offensive rebounds are obvious. He grabbed three against the Bulls. But it’s the small things that stand out even more.

On this play, the Bulls had a three-on-one fast-break off a Tatum turnover. Brissett sprints down the floor, gets in front of Chicago, and forces them to slow down.

By the time they got a shot up, Tatum was back and sent them packing. Tatum gets the block in the stat sheet, but Brissett deserves the credit for the stop.

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