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Celtics Wrap: Boston Battles Back Down Stretch To Pull Out Win Vs. Bulls
The Celtics now have won three of their last four


NESN by Sean T. McGuire

Celtics head coach Ime Udoka has said before how Boston won’t apologize for an ugly win, and that’s just what the hosts earned Saturday night while pulling out a 114-112 victory over the Chicago Bulls at TD Garden.

Boston (22-22) is back at .500 while the shorthanded Bulls fell to 27-14 on the campaign.

ONE KEY TAKEAWAY
The Celtics, who led by 10 points after the first quarter, watched their lead slip away throughout much of the second half, but ultimately made some key plays down the stretch to earn their third win in four games.

Boston trailed by as many as seven points in the final quarter, but closed the game on a mini 8-0 run in the final two minutes to pull out the victory. And the Celtics did so despite the fact the Bulls made a lot of shots — Chicago shot better than 50% from the field and 41% from long range.

For the Celtics to get a win on the second night of a back-to-back, against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, it helps continue their momentum.

STARS OF THE GAME
— Jayson Tatum scored 13 of his 23 points in the first quarter while starting 6-for-9 from the field. Tatum, though, was perhaps his most impressive on the defensive end, especially while guarding DeMar DeRozan. Tatum finished with 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocks to go along with his 23 points.

— Robert Williams hit four massive free throws down the stretch en route to finishing with 14 points and 13 rebounds. The Celtics big man also added a notable six assists.

— Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic was impressive with his game-high 27 points on 12-for-20 from the field. Vucevic added six rebounds and six assists with two steals and one block.

WAGER WATCH
If you bet that Tatum would record a double-double, you were treated to a solid payout. A $100 bet on Tatum would have made one lucky bettor $265 richer, according to DraftKings Sportsbook.


UP NEXT
The Celtics will return to TD Garden on Monday to host the New Orleans Pelicans with the holiday contest set to tip off at 12:30 p.m. ET.

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Well, let's address the elephant in the room first before CHI does and get that off the table.  With 7 of their players out including two of their main starters, I've got some empathy for CHI, but no sympathy.  Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt.    

I found it interesting the statistical ranking of CHI having the best 3-point % in the league at 38.5% for the season.  The lowest team per teamrankings.com shows  OKC shooting 31.2% brings up the rear.  

I'm not really sure of the statistical significance (if the goal is to efficiently score more points than your opponent) even if you get an average for the league. I'll guess it is a little better/greater than 35% to justify the league and its players jacking it up until the cows come home for the last few years.  Break even statistically, as I've said, is 33%, where 3's and 2's have equal expected values.  The way things have gone, I'm going to guess the league and its coaches just see the absolute numbers and heard nothing else from the stat gurus and have not looked back since.  

What this tells me is the 3-point line is just about perfect where it is.  Maybe, the league could move it back just a couple of inches to get the average right on 33.3%, but the 3-point shot, at least until you can get the standard deviation calculation for the range, doesn't seem to justify "the new age of the NBA".  

About 2/3rds of the league shoot above 33.3%.  So you can argue that it is beneficial to let it fly, but for a league with 30 teams, you are only 5 teams off from it hitting the 50% mark. (20 teams currently greater than 33.3%, 15/16 teams is the middle.)  The median team is CLE coming in at 35%.  

I'm going to guess it's good for the league since the analytical stat boys and girls invaded the league.  Hence the league wouldn't be pushing it so much, but with a cursory look, IMHBAO, the numbers aren't matching up with the hype.  Basketball isn't baseball either.  The margins in baseball are far more razor thin.  
It would be interesting to know how many more points have been scored by the league since the 3-point shot barrages took off.  

If both 2-point and 3-point expected values are about equal at 1 point, then teams should be shooting 1 for 1 between twos and threes.  Haven't checked if the league is measuring things that way.  I wouldn't hazard a guess at this point.  I just know the league is shooting infinitely more 3's since the 80's when Larry was using it as a dagger to the heart and not a full-game strategy.

We here with the Celtics are all too often aware during the season when this strategy blows up in our faces and how it almost appears like a drug.  They just keep shooting.  

OK, that took a little longer than I thought!  I saw the game.  I don't have much to add to the above.  11 TO's once again is below our average of 14.  We pretty much matched them everywhere else.  The TO's dropping by 3 below our average seems to be a trend for winning and when you commit 20 like vs. 76er's, you're going to lose.  Menace followed up his miserable performance vs. 76ers with a solid very outing and for now, he needs to be our third of the Big 3, like it or not.  He can score, just not consistently.  When he's driving, making layups and getting fouled, I don't see anyone else doing it better.  To me, without looking at the numbers, he seems to play better starting.  Didn't he tell the Lakers he came there to start, not come off the bench?  Wazzupwitdat?!!  

It doesn't look like once MS gets back that the starting line up of RWIII, MS, AH, JT and JB is going to change so we're stuck with that and hence the continued .500 play to finish out the season.  

Our Big 3 is about at 2 1/2 and you have to get there by hodgepodging after the 2 J's.  Our two J's aren't solid and consistent enough yet to get a "1" for each, but they are getting there, especially recently where they are both playing and scoring.  I'd give them both .75 right now and trending upward.  

That's what is going to have to work this season.  That's what we will need to improve upon.  Wasn't it Bill Parcels that said you are what your record says you are?  Yep.

Overall, we played ok.  This may be a memorable game just from who we beat.  I'm not going to give it an elite vote, though.  If you are going to climb out of a hole, you have to beat those above you consistently and not lose to teams you shouldn't lose to below you.  This is a start, once again.  Lots of stopping and starting.  3 out of 4 is a start plus looking out on the horizon...  

We have what looks like 3 relatively easier games coming up so there's a chance we could get some traction but there is still nothing to indicate going 3-0 is a lock.  We know what that means...don't hold your breath just yet.  Well, maybe...maybe not.    

db

Udoka made some key defensive adjustments at crunch time and it worked. He put Jaylen on Vucevic, who had been lighting it up from outside, getting his shot off easily against RWill. He then put Tatum on DeRozan and it worked, not too complicated, but had to be done. I thought we looked tired most of the game, but still had enough fight at the very end both sides to pull out a much needed win. RWill played well, was a rebounding demon; however Vucevic is a quality 5 that was scoring bigly on him. Size, post up ability and a reliable jumper, he’s always had. I like the way the Bulls were patient and have built up their team in recent seasons, and keeping their best assets. Hopefully we are in the process of doing that….

I turned from the Patriots game after the Bills went up 14 zip.  This is quite unusual for me as I have been a diehard Pats fan since they came into the league.  I always watch to the end, win or lose.  For some reason, I was far less enthralled by the outcome of that game than watching the Celtics and Bulls. Maybe the reality that the Bills are just a better team was the real reason. And I chose not to watch the Pats get hammered.  

When the Bulls went up 100-95 I could not help but connect the game with way too many losses that were canonized in that all important 4th quarter.  Of course by then I knew the Pats got blown out so my only recourse was to wait and see how this one would turn out.

Jayson Tatum was rewarded with the Player of the game honor indifference to the actual player of the game.  That player was none other than Robert Williams.

I have wondered who would be finishing games at center for us.  AH, who played reasonably, well started the game with Rob on the bench.  At the 7:06 mark of the 4th Rob comes in for Al.

Rob gets two alley oop dunks off of  Dennis Schroder feeds and also collects an assist when Dennis make a driving layup.

The will to win came through like bright sunshine on an otherwise partly cloudy day.  With Boston down by 4 points and only 31 seconds in the game Rob steps to line and goes 2-2 with a shooter bounce on both to tie the game at 112.  

Those where big time pressure moments.

Then this kid ices the damn game with 9.7 seconds remaining at the line again by confidently draining two perfect free throws and giving us a 114-112 advantage and ultimately a much needed win.

That should have sealed the well deserved player of the game honors.

I am going to mention other contributors but I gotta tell you that whenever I have doubts about the value that Rob brings to the table, he just destroys that notion and shows yet another aspect of how he can help our team win games.  MENTAL TOUGHNESS AT WORK!

Dennis had a well above average outing and he did it without launching a high volume of 3 point shots.  He actually resembled a PG last night while dishing out 8 assists with only 1 turnover.  He scored efficiently going 6-9 from the field along with 6 rebounds.  He finished the night with 16 points and served as a great compliment to the team.  

Jayson struggled shooting ball (8-24 and 1-5 from deep)  but he hit the glass big time and came up with impressive defensive stops when we needed them.  

JB was good but not great and Josh earned his 29 minutes.

Peyton helped off the bench.  Grant continues to see his minutes decline (14) because overall, you just are not going to get great production from him consistently.

We weathered the freedom rotation and I think I like him better as Kanter.

A couple of points of reference for this win

We killed them on the glass 50-32, outshot them at the line 17/19 vs 12/15.  We had 6 guys in double digits.

Billy Donovan is a very underrated coach.

The Bull have dropped 3 in a row and I expect them to come back down with injuries and other reasons like missed player games.

Next up, the Pelicans on MLK day at...mark it down, 12:30 PM.

Right RWill gets game ball for converting 4 crucial FT’s at the end

Both J’s with some great defense at the end too….