Celtics-Bulls takeaways: Lackluster shooting ends C's win streak

The Chicago Bulls were a desperate team entering Monday night's game against the Boston Celtics and they played like it.

The Bulls snapped their four-game losing streak with a 121-107 victory at the United Center, handing the Celtics just their second loss in regulation this season.

Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 28 points, and even though the C's trimmed the Bulls' lead under 10 points at times throughout the fourth quarter, they never seriously threatened Chicago's chances of winning.

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The defeat brings the Celtics' nine-game win streak to an end. But despite the loss, Boston still has the NBA's best record at 13-4.

The Celtics will begin a six-game homestand Wednesday night against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden. 

But before we look ahead to that exciting matchup, here are three takeaways from Celtics-Bulls.

1) Bulls' hot shooting too much for Celtics

The Bulls shot lights out Monday night and the Celtics just couldn't keep up.

Chicago hit 51.7 percent (46-of-89) of its shots, including a red-hot 48.3 percent (14-of-29) from 3-point range.

https://twitter.com/chicagobulls/status/1594890582739992576

Here's a snapshot of how well the Bulls' starters shot from beyond the arc:

• Zach LaVine: 5-of-10
• Patrick Williams: 3-of-4
• DeMar DeRozan: 3-of-3
• Nikola Vucevic: 0-of-1
• Ayo Dosunmu: 0-of-1
• Total: 11-of-19 (57.8 percent)

All five Bulls starters scored in double figures, led by DeRozan (28 points) and LaVine (22 points). Chicago's starting five outscored Boston's starters by 15 (89-74).

Marcus Smart, Derrick White, Al Horford and Sam Hauser combined to score 16 points on 6-of-25 shooting. Meanwhile, Bulls role players Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu, Coby White and Alex Caruso poured in a combined 46 points. 

The Celtics' offense has been historically good to begin the season, but sometimes shots just don't fall, and Monday night was an example of that.

2) Al Horford struggles offensively

Horford's performance Monday night probably was the worst of his Celtics career.

Even though he played 35 minutes, Horford scored zero points and missed all nine of his shot attempts, including seven 3-point attempts. It's the first time he's failed to score a single point in a game for the Celtics. The veteran center also pulled down just five rebounds and the Celtics were outscored by 11 points in his minutes.

Horford is 36 years old and has played 30-plus minutes in seven of his nine games in November. He's averaging 32.5 minutes per game this month, and that's too much. The Celtics need to get his minutes under 30 to help keep him fresh for the entire season and the playoffs.

C's interim head coach Joe Mazzulla should give Blake Griffin and Luke Kornet a little more action in an effort to lessen Horford's workload.

3) Chicago a tough place for Celtics to win

The Celtics have just two losses in regulation this season and both have come against the Bulls at the United Center.

Chicago has been a tough place for the C's to play of late. They've lost three of their last four games at the United Center dating back to the 2020-21 season. The average margin of defeat for the Celtics in those three losses is 18 points.

Rebounding has been a huge issue for the Celtics in these games. The Bulls have earned a 163-130 edge on the glass in their three wins against the Celtics in Chicago over the last four meetings, including a 51-38 advantage on Monday night.

Luckily for the Celtics, they won't return to Chicago this season unless these teams meet in the 2023 playoffs.