It was a blowout in the Windy City, but not exactly how anyone saw coming.
A day after exacting revenge against Detroit for what was Boston’s worst loss of the season, the Celtics deliver a stinker of all stinkers in being soundly beaten 108-85 by the Bulls who now "improve" their record to 6-20 with a third straight win.
The Celtics (23-6) were without Irving who suffered a quads injury against the Pistons on Sunday. Boston was also without Marcus Morris (left knee soreness) whose return is to be determined.
But we’ve seen the Celtics in the past play without key players and find a way to not just compete but emerge victorious.
Not on Monday.
It seemed most of the game, the Celtics were a step slow at both ends of the floor resulting in the Bulls getting great looks offensively and making more plays than usual on defense.
While most of the focus without Irving was on Boston’s offense, it was the Celtics’ defense that truly let them down.
At no point did the Celtics apply the kind of defensive pressure you expect to see from the league’s top-ranked defense.
Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic delivered a devastating 1-2 punch for the Bulls with 23 and 24 points, respectively.
And they did so from the perimeter as well as from inside the paint with the Celtics offering little to no resistance or playing with any sense of force needed to win.
After trailing most of the game, the Celtics were down 78-63 going into the fourth quarter in part because of the monster game Portis (19 points on 8-for-11 shooting) was having for the Bulls through the first three quarters of play.
And as the game got more lopsided in the fourth, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens emptied his bench only for the team’s end-of-the-bench reserves literally pick up where the regulars left off in what was the worst loss of the season; coming against the worst team in the NBA nonetheless.