Head Coach Brad Stevens explains what went wrong vs. the Bulls in Boston’s recent loss

Justin Quinn
·2 min read
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While a glance at the Chicago Bulls recent record might have been enough to convince most Boston Celtics fans of an easy win in a critical game for postseason seeding, that assumption would be wrong with Boston falling 121 – 99 to the Bulls on Friday.

With several key players returning to their roster of late including 2021 All-Stars Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine, and the Celtics dealing with an All-Star and a starter on the injury list for the road contest, the level of difficulty was considerably higher than the standings might otherwise have suggested. And with an already-thin frontcourt post-trade deadline — which ironically sent starting center Daniel Theis to the Bulls — Boston had a distinctive size and talent disadvantage in their frontcourt.

“Their size is an issue for us,” explained Stevens to the media after the game.

"Their size and length hurt us in our game at our place, and it really hurt us tonight," he added. "We had to overreact some to that, and some to their opportunities."

"Then they got to spraying it around in the second quarter, [and] made some shots. We did not have a good shooting night, and we also had some turnovers that probably didn't give us a chance to cut it back in when we had our chances."

"They're a tough matchup for us, and I think that they played very well, and we did not shoot the ball well and it kind of went from there," Stevens finished. https://twitter.com/TheCelticsWire/status/1391073059801534466?s=20

While that is indeed a bit of an oversimplification of what went wrong for the Celtics, bad shooting to the tune of 28.2% from beyond the arc -- nearly half of Boston's total shot attempts -- combined with a number of turnovers and defensive mistakes proved too much to overcome. On a night with only Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier looking like they had their A-game going and down Jaylen Brown and Robert Williams III out injured, a determined, healthy Bulls roster was simply more than this banged-up Celtics team could take. This post originally appeared on Celtics Wire. Follow us on Facebook! [lawrence-related id=50073,50066,50036,50030] [listicle id=50076]

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