Without Derrick Rose (back), the Bulls relied on depth, getting a combined 46 points from Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer and a total of 31 rebounds between Boozer and Joakim Noah.
Deng canned six 3-pointers, all of them daggers for the Celtics. His final one, with 47 seconds left, gave Chicago a 9-point lead.
The Celtics were uneven offensively, as Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Ray Allen were a combined 17 for 46 (40 percent).
They played adequate defense, but when they needed to match the Bulls basket for basket, they couldn’t.
“It was a strange game because we got a lot of great shots, and we couldn’t make any of them’’ said Rivers. “We got Ray wide-open shots. Paul had wide-open spots. Maybe it was a benefactor of playing last night, but like I told them at halftime, I wasn’t upset about the shots but I wish some of them would go in.’’
Kevin Garnett returned to the lineup after a one-game absence (hip pointer) to record his eighth double-double (18 points, 10 rebounds), but he was the lone post threat.
The Bulls were coasting after a Noah jumper gave them a 53-37 lead with 9:14 left in the third. The Celtics appeared helpless, and had scored 2 points in a span of 7:14.
But they began chipping away by pounding the ball inside, and a modest 9-1 run turned into a serious 22-7 surge as Allen drained three 3-pointers. The Celtics even had a chance to take the lead before the end of the quarter but Garnett missed a streaking dunk while being defended by Noah.
A leaner by Allen tied the game at 69 with 8:29 left, but the Celtics proceeded to miss their next six shots. On the Bulls’ two possessions after the tie, Taj Gibson grabbed a fumbled ball with the shot clock at two seconds and scored a layup, and Deng buried a desperation 3-pointer to beat the shot clock.
Chris Wilcox was hit with a technical foul following a non-call on his layup attempt, and Deng followed with another layup. In the end, the Bulls shot just 39.5 percent, but collected 16 offensive rebounds for 12 second-chance points.
Chicago outrebounded Boston, 52-37, including a stunning 19-3 in the second quarter.
