BOSTON — It came as no surprise that the Chicago Bulls missed Zach LaVine in Wednesday’s 122-100 loss to the Boston Celtics.
The game marked the first of an expected three-game absence for LaVine, who is not with the team ahead of the birth of his third child with his wife, Hunter. But even with plenty of heads-up, the Bulls couldn’t fully plan for a tough trip without their star.
It wasn’t just his scoring — although the Bulls certainly could have used LaVine’s season average of 24 points. The Bulls couldn’t stir themselves out of offensive stagnation without LaVine, barely reaching triple digits as the reigning champions recovered from a recent skid with a bounce-back offensive effort from Kristaps Porzingis (34 points) and Jaylen Brown (28 points).
The Bulls switched focus to playing their youngest rotations midway through the second half, with guard Josh Giddey and center Nikola Vučević sitting out the fourth quarter.
Here are five takeaways from the loss — the Bulls’ eighth in 10 games.
1. Celtics converted ruthlessly on mistakes.
The Bulls didn’t turn the ball over an egregious amount — eight times in the first half, 14 total. But the Celtics pounced on every mistake, finishing off turnovers at an aggressive rate to earn an important edge.
The Celtics scored 27 points off 14 turnovers, fed by their ability to convert 3-pointers after every mistake, pulling up to keep the offense moving at a high pace.
“Especially against the reigning champs, you just can’t give them opportunities,” guard Coby White said. “Against good teams like that, you got to control what you can control.”
2. Coby White returned from injury.
After missing four games with a bone bruise in his left ankle, White jumped right back into the starting lineup. White’s absence didn’t last long — 10 days — but the rust took a moment to clean off. The guard noted that it took at least one rotation to get his wind back, and he missed his first four shots before finally sinking a 3-pointer in the third quarter.
Although White was supposed to play under a slight minutes restriction — between 25 and 28 minutes, according to coach Billy Donovan — he ultimately logged 30 minutes, 35 seconds in the loss. He finished with 16 points — tied for the team high — and went 2-for-7 from 3-point range.
3. Patrick Williams was strong off the bench again.
The Bulls finally benched Williams for the start of Monday’s win over the Denver Nuggets, a decision that immediately paid off in one of the most decisive performances from the wing all season. Williams’ contributions in the upset — 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 28:35 — were enough to buoy confidence in him throughout the locker room.
“In this league everybody remembers your last game,” White said before Wednesday’s game. “So everybody should remember that he got game.”
Donovan kept Williams in the secondary rotation against the Celtics despite LaVine’s absence, a signal that this could become a long-term plan regardless of matchup or teammate availability. Williams responded with another strong effort, totaling 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
4. Matas Buzelis remained the sixth man.
No one in a Bulls jersey played particularly well Wednesday. But Buzelis continued to show improvement on both ends of the court after being the first player off the bench for the second consecutive game, a small silver lining in another loss.
Buzelis drained a pair of 3-pointers in the first half. He flashed to the rim on a backdoor cut for a simple flush dunk in the third quarter and blew past Porziņģis to pick up a foul in the fourth. After the call, he grinned while chirping with the former All-Star.
But the most important improvement was on the defensive end, where Donovan felt the rookie showed an improved ability to read screens and stay close to his opponent’s hip. In the teams’ first meeting, Buzelis sagged off his defensive assignments, offering too much space for players such as Jaylen Brown to get off a shot. On Wednesday, Buzelis met each switch with physicality, closing space while using his length to make life harder on the Celtics stars.
Buzelis finished with 12 points on 2-for-4 shooting from 3-point range and added four rebounds and a block. And the rookie is embracing the difficulty that comes with playing longer rotations against top-ranked opponents.
“How am I going to get better if I’m not playing against the best?” Buzelis said.
5. Nikola Vučević’s shooting slump continued.
At the start of the season, it seemed the center couldn’t miss. But even amid the hottest streaks of the season — at one point shooting 47.3% on 3-pointers in November — it was hard for the center to not feel that he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
That sneaker plummeted to the hardwood this month. Vučević is shooting only 27.3% from 3-point range in January. That trend continued in Boston, where he missed all three of his attempts on the way to a season-low six-point night.
The Bulls struggled as a collective from behind the arc, finishing 15-for-49 (30.6%).
