Celtics 125, Bulls 111: Pritchard Drops 30 Off the Bench and Boston Ends It in the First Quarter, Again

If the Chicago Bulls were hoping that the second trip to TD Garden in five days would go better than the first, the Celtics answered that question before most people had found their seats. Boston scored a season-high 44 points in the first quarter Friday night and beat Chicago 125-111 in its first NBA Cup game of the season, according to the team's game recap.

It did not even start well. The Bulls led 9-6 in the opening minutes. Then the Celtics went on a 38-16 run to close the quarter, and that was more or less the night. Four Celtics scored at least eight points in the first quarter, led by Payton Pritchard, who had 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting in less than six minutes, the recap says. Neemias Queta and Jayson Tatum had nine apiece, and Paul George had eight points, four assists and two steals in the quarter alone.

The defense did its share. Boston had six steals in the first quarter, and then only four over the remaining three quarters combined, which tells you how much the first 12 minutes did the heavy lifting. The lead got as big as 32 points, and the Celtics took a 78-49 lead into halftime. Chicago made a couple of pushes in the second half but never got the deficit under 14.

Now, about Pritchard. On Monday against these same Bulls, he scored 28 points and went 7-for-10 from three. On Friday he scored a season-high 30 and did it a completely different way. Twenty-one of his 30 points came on 2-pointers and free throws. He went 6-for-8 inside the arc and a career-best 9-for-9 from the free-throw line, and was 3-for-10 from deep, according to the recap. That is 58 points in two games against one opponent in five days, off the bench.

He also had three rebounds, three assists and two steals, and was plus-12 in 34 minutes. Joe Mazzulla, who is not known for gushing, said this about him afterward: "I like pushing him, I like coaching him, and I love him like a brother." Coming from Mazzulla, that is practically a sonnet.

Tatum finished with 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. George filled every column with 18 points, six rebounds, eight assists and three steals. Derrick White recorded the 500th steal of his career in the second quarter. The Celtics shot 42-for-82 from the field, 51.2%, and their bench outscored Chicago's 59-40.

Rookie Caleb Wilson led Chicago with 23 points. He was the one Bull who looked comfortable for long stretches, and he is the reason the second half had any drama at all.

And then there were the whistles. It was the first time since 2008 that both the Celtics and their opponent attempted at least 40 free throws in the same game, according to the team. The two teams combined for 60 fouls. Somehow, nobody fouled out. If you were watching on TV and felt like you saw more of the free-throw line than the three-point line, you were not imagining it.

What does it mean? Two wins over the same team in five days is two wins, and the Cup games count in the standings like any other regular-season game. But a 44-point first quarter against anybody is a statement about pace, and the steals suggest the defense is turning people over early rather than just waiting out possessions. The 60 fouls are the part that will not travel well. Good teams do not usually want to give an opponent 40 free throws.

There is also a bench story here that has been building. Pritchard being the best scorer on the floor in back-to-back meetings is not a fluke stat line. The 59-40 bench edge says Boston's reserves can hold a lead, not just protect one.

The question for the next stretch is whether this version of the team shows up against opponents that do not let them run. Chicago has now given up 44 in a quarter and lost twice by double digits in Boston in one week. Not every team will be that accommodating.

What we still don't know: whether the foul-heavy officiating was a one-night thing or a Cup-game trend, and whether Pritchard's minutes keep climbing now that he has been the leading scorer in two straight games against the same team.