Jayson Tatum scored 35 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Payton Pritchard came off the bench to add 29 points, leading the Boston Celtics to a 138-129 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Friday night in their fourth NBA Cup game.
Tatum made a free throw to give Boston a 125-115 lead with 4:11 left in the game. Chicago reduced the gap to just three points after a 3-pointer from Zach LaVine with 3:03 remaining but couldn’t get any closer.
Pritchard hit 7 of 11 shots from beyond the arc, scoring 19 of his points in the fourth quarter. Boston also got 21 points each from Kristaps Porzingis and Jaylen Brown.
With this loss, Chicago was eliminated from the NBA Cup, finishing with a 2-2 record. A win would have allowed them to advance as the East Group C champion.
Boston’s chance to win the group ended when Atlanta defeated Cleveland 117-101 on Friday. Since the Hawks beat the Celtics 117-116 in a previous NBA Cup game, Atlanta became the East Group C champion with a 3-1 record. The Celtics, also 3-1, have a small chance to advance as a wild card.
Nikola Vucevic led Chicago with 32 points and 11 rebounds, while LaVine added 29 points, including four 3-pointers. With his third 3-pointer, LaVine surpassed Kirk Hinrich as the Bulls’ all-time leader in made three-pointers, finishing with 1,051 career 3-pointers for Chicago.
Boston took its first double-digit lead when Porzingis dunked to make it 23-12 with 5:38 left in the first quarter. The Celtics extended their lead to 33-20 after a Tatum 3-pointer, and they finished the first quarter up 39-30, making 9 of 16 3-point attempts.
The Bulls responded with a 16-3 run to tie the game at 42-42, then used an 11-0 run to go ahead 55-46. Boston answered with a 14-0 run, ending with a Derrick White 3-pointer to put the Celtics up 60-55. The game was tied 67-67 at halftime.
In the third quarter, a 13-2 run gave Chicago an 80-72 lead with 8:07 left. However, the score was tied 97-96 heading into the final quarter.
White, who had 16 points in 24 minutes, left the game with a foot injury in the second half and did not return.
