Boston faces off against Chicago while playing just their third game in 12 days
It feels like the Celtics haven’t played in forever. They come in to tonight’s game against the Bulls after having a three-day break. Their last game before that was against the Wizards, and that, too, came after another two-day break. Their last game before that was against the Pistons after another extended break, that time for four days. It feels as though it’s been almost two weeks since the team has really had to play, but now that the NBA Cup has concluded, the schedule should start to look like normal again until the All-Star break.
Given the light December schedule and the lineup uncertainty for both teams, there are a few questions we can ask before tonight’s game:
How sharp will the Celtics be defensively after a three-day break?
Funny enough, the only other time the Celtics had exactly a three-day break this season their next game was against Chicago as well. In that game the Celtics got out to a 13-point lead in the 1st quarter, their highest of the game, but later saw 10 ties and 14 lead changes.
Chicago managed to even up the game by half-time, and matched the Celtics in the 3rd quarter to stay tied going into the 4th as well. It wasn’t until there were about 5 minutes left in the game where Boston was finally able to start creating some separation and close out the game, and even then, the difference was as low as 5 points with under a minute left.
Offensively the Celtics seemed as sharp as usual, putting up 138 points on the night with a 50.0 FG% and 42.6 3P%. The defense is where they were lacking, allowing Chicago to put up 129 points of their own on 51.6 FG% and 39.2 3P%. That’s the second highest scoring output they allowed this season, second only to the Pacers who scored 135 points against Boston.
While the Celtics are more than capable of beating out teams purely off of offensive scoring power, it’ll be key to see how they come out on defense tonight.
How do the Celtics slow down Nikola Vucevic?
In Boston’s last matchup against Chicago, Nikola Vucevic was clearly the best player on the court for the Bulls, and second only to Jayson Tatum for the game. He put up 32 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 assists, all on 68.8% shooting from the floor and an insane 6 for 9 shooting from three-point range.
His floor spacing gave huge bursts to Chicago with each shot that he hit, and was giving the Celtics fits all night. Maybe the law of averages will bring those numbers down tonight, but Boston shouldn’t rely on that to get the job done.
Throughout the season, Boston has lived with the philosophy of luring teams into the paint and convincing them to take 2s instead of 3s. Maybe we see them doing the same tonight while also chasing Vuc off of the 3-point line.
Who steps up if Hauser and/or Porzingis miss tonight’s game?
The Celtics could potentially be without Sam Hauser, Kristaps Porzingis, and Xavier Tillman tonight, each of them holding a questionable status ahead of the game. Tillman hasn’t played much this year, so if he is absent, it likely won’t change much.
The Celtics also went without Porzingis for an extended period of time to start the season, though he returned just in time for the last game against the Bulls, the first time all season where the team was fully healthy. In that game he had 21 points and 8 rebounds on 7 for 11 shooting, 2 for 5 from three.
Hauser has missed time on and off due to back spasms, and they may hold him out tonight as well. In the last matchup with Chicago, Sam was underwhelming offensively, only scoring 3 points on 1 for 5 shooting. That three also came at the final buzzer as the team was trying to run up the score for a higher NBA Cup point differential. He did make an impact defensively, though, with his two steals.
Neemias Queta was the only Celtics player outside of their top-8 to see the floor that night, and that, too, for under 7 minutes. If Porzingis or Hauser miss tonight’s game, we’d likely see guys like Luke Kornet, Jordan Walsh, and Drew Peterson take the floor as well. Who will make the biggest impact is yet to be seen, though.