Sharpshooting Bulls thump Celtics
CHICAGO -- Delonte West suffered a mild concussion rising toward the rim for a layup near the end of the second quarter. He had no recollection of what happened immediately before he lost consciousness, but teammates and coach Doc Rivers think he might have been hit by Chicago's Mike Sweetney.
He came to with blurred vision and a headache. He spent the second half lying down in the training room, trying to find a way out of the fog. Given what transpired in the third quarter, West was the luckiest member of the Celtics last night at the United Center as he did not have to witness Chicago's barrage from the perimeter to beat Boston, 118-86. What West did see, he forgot. His teammates experienced no such mercy.
The Bulls made a mockery of the Celtics defense, shooting 60 percent from the floor (43 for 72), including 82 percent from 3-point range (14 for 17). As the final box scores were passed around the visitors' locker room, players commented on the percentages with words not fit for a family newspaper.
No sooner did Chicago start hitting from the arc than the game was effectively over.
''We're a bad team right now," said Rivers. ''We just have to keep working. I still believe we're going to be better. We're going to be a much better team later. But right now, because we're losing and not playing well, you lose some team confidence. That played out on the floor tonight.
''I've got to be a better coach. I've got to do a better job with this team. Our players have got to play better . . . When you get beat that bad, I've learned to let it go. Tonight wasn't that difficult except for your pride. I hope that hurt their pride. It hurt mine as a coach."
In 1 minutes 55 seconds, the game went from mildly competitive to downright embarrassing for the Celtics (9-14). That was the time it took the Bulls (12-11) to double their lead from 9 points at the start of the third quarter to 18 points (62-44) when Kirk Hinrich capped an 11-2 run. Boston would not recover. Forget about physical exhaustion, the Celtics were mentally spent from trying to rally at every turn, not just last night, but also Friday night at home against the Bucks.
The Celtics looked helpless and hapless as the Bulls shot a staggering 70 percent (14 for 20) from the floor, including 90 percent (9 for 10) from 3-point range, in the third. By the time the third ended, Boston had played its worst quarter of defense this season, allowing Chicago to score 39 points, with nine 3-pointers. Both numbers represented opponent season highs.
For the Bulls, the nine 3-pointers in the third and 11 3-pointers in the second half were new franchise records. The 39 points in the third and 67 points in the second half were season highs for points in a quarter and a half.
Four shots from the arc belonged to Chris Duhon, who scored 12 of his 22 points in the third, 2 shy of his career high. It was a Duhon 3-pointer that pushed the Chicago lead to the 20-point mark (72-52) with 5:27 left in the third. It was Duhon again at the third-quarter buzzer with another 3-pointer to extend the Chicago lead to 90-63.
The fourth quarter was a mere formality with starters Paul Pierce (20 points) and Mark Blount (7 points, 4 rebounds) resting for the entire quarter.
''I've been saying it all year: I don't think we concentrate hard and believe in one another out there," said Pierce. ''We're not playing with the same sense of urgency on defense. We lose our defensive confidence when teams score and hit tough shots on us like [last night]. We need to get all five guys defensively on the same page."
No doubt Rivers focused his halftime speech on defense. Once again, the Celtics struggled as the Bulls shot 54 percent in the first half. And it wasn't leading scorers Hinrich or Luol Deng who hurt the Green in the first half, but Sweetney (career-high-tying 24 points), Duhon (22 points), and reserve Darius Songaila (16 points). Throughout the first half, the Celtics fell victim to a Bulls spurt almost every time they drew close. Boston entered the break behind, 51-42.
Boston's shooting, a meager 36 percent in the first half, compounded its problems. Ricky Davis (1 for 9), Blount (2 for 9), Marcus Banks (1 for 5), and Brian Scalabrine (1 for 4) went a combined 5 for 27 from the floor (18.5 percent ) in the first half. The Celtics finished shooting 38 percent.
From the opening tip, it was clear offense would not come easily for the Celtics. They did not score until West converted a driving layup nearly three minutes into the contest. By that time, the Bulls had built a 9-0 advantage. Boston closed within 4 points (15-11), but Chicago managed to push its advantage back to double digits with its opponent still struggling to score and committing turnovers.
In the second quarter, Boston used a 7-0 run to close within 1 point (40-39) with 2:51 remaining. But Chicago closed the quarter with an 11-3 spurt and appeared poised to put Boston behind for good in the second half.
''Right from the beginning of the game, we were really in tune with what we were doing," said Bulls coach Scott Skiles. ''It was our best defensive game in a long while. When we are active like that, hustling, getting loose balls, it's funny how the basket opens up."
