Boston Celtics: 3 great highlights in blowout victory vs. Bulls

The Boston Celtics used team defense and ball movement on offense to stampede the Bulls 111-82 at TD Garden Wednesday night.

That’s much more like it.  The Boston Celtics went back to the basics Wednesday night against the Chicago Bulls and coasted to a 29-point victory to get back into the win column.

It is just one game against bad opponent, but the overall effort of the Celtics in the 111-82 victory is a positive step forward for a team that has not been playing their best basketball.

With Marcus Morris scratched prior to the game due to illness, the Celtics showed just how deep a team they were.  In erasing a 24-19 first quarter deficit, Boston played a relentless offensive game led by a more aggressive Jaylen Brown.

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The 6-foot-7 wing led the team with a game-high 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field.  It was his cutting to the rim and constant movement that stood out offensively.  As head coach Brad Stevens highlighted following the game, the third-year rising star has the athleticism to get to the rim any time he wants.

"“Jaylen can get to the rim at any time,” Stevens said, via Celtics.com.  “I think the biggest thing is just continuing to not only finish with strength, but also just continuing to make the right reads.  And I think he’s improved on that.”"

Overall, the Boston Celtics got good efforts out of Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown and Gordon Hayward finally got going in the second half of the game.  Again, the defense was great in holding Bulls guard Zach LaVine to just 10 points and the ball movement on the offensive end led the team to good looks at the rim.  More impressively, the team didn’t rely on the three-point shot although they did knock down their share of them.

In improving on the season to 8-6, here are three great highlights that stood out in the game.

Gordon Hayward goes coast to coast

A major positive in this game besides the aggressiveness of Jaylen Brown was the play of Gordon Hayward.

Serving as more of a facilitator, the All-Star forward showed off his playmaking ability throughout the game.  After starting the game going 0-for-7 from the floor, Hayward finished the game with 11 points after finally getting his shot going.

With talks about Gordon Hayward coming off the bench, his best play happened to come when he was on the court with the second unit.  There was a nice play in which he set up Aron Baynes going to the hoop and then there was this play in which Hayward went coast to coast to set up a three-point play.

Although it wasn’t the greatest game overall for Hayward, it was nice to see him setting up teammates and playing aggressive defense.  There was one play in the second half in which he dived for a loose ball with the team already up by over 20 points.

If that doesn’t show how much Gordon Hayward is locked in on getting better and improving the team, I don’t know what else would.

Al Horford is so smooth

The Boston Celtics need more out of Al Horford and they got it last night against the Bulls.

The All-Star forward scored 10 points and pulled down 8 rebounds in just 20 minutes played, but it was his energy in his time played that really told the story.  Horford displayed a nice inside-outside game offensively that showed off his versatility.

Take a look at his smooth post up shot from Al Horford in the first half of the game:

The Celtics could use a lot more of this out of their veteran big man, who said following the game that the team was humbled by their slow start.

"“I think that coming into the season, we were all expecting that we would kind of just take over, and we’re very dangerous, and I feel like we’ve been humbled a little bit,” Horford said.  “we’re in a position now that we have an opportunity to start building that and we have to do it every night.  If we’re able to do that, we’ll have a chance to be special, especially committing to the defensive end.”"

When Al Horford shows up on both ends of the court, it is obvious the Boston Celtics are a tough team to beat, especially when he is making moves in the post like the one he made above.

Uncle Drew with the hustle

Kyle Irving has been vocal about the early season struggles of the Boston Celtics.

On Wednesday night, he played a complete game to help his team get back on track.  Not only did he set up his teammates with open shots, he showed some hustle on the defensive end like this play in which he punched the ball to Jaylen Brown for the easy jam:

That one pay symbolized the type of team defense the Celtics played overall.  It is also the way Kyrie Irving wants to see his team plays.  It wasn’t about the individual, but how each individual contributed to the complete team effort.

"“Felt good.  One of the toughest things to do in this league is come off a road trip good or bad and play well in front of the home fans,” Irving said following the game.  “It’s a hard thing to do, but I think for us it was a conscious effort to be more aggressive and play the game as it came, not settling for jump shots, or taking the first available shot.  I think some of the possessions within rhythm I think guys were taking great shots.”"

Great defense led to many of those open looks.  Kyrie Irving and the crew are going to have to build off Wednesday night’s performance when they take on the Toronto Raptors on Friday night.