Balanced attack vs. Bulls is something Celtics should look to continue

Seven different players scored in double figures in the Celtics’ 117-92 throttling of the Chicago Bulls on Saturday.

Recently, the Boston Celtics have been plagued by inconsistent scoring from Kyrie Irving‘s supporting cast, relying too much on the team’s MVP to shoulder the load and get buckets by himself.

In Thursday’s disappointing 102-93 loss to the Knicks, just two players, Irving and Jayson Tatum, notched over 10 points. One night prior in a one-point loss to Miami in which the team scored just 89 points, two starters, Al Horford and Aron Baynes, combined for just eight points. Irving was left to fend for himself for most of the evening, scoring 33 points while taking 24 shots in 37 minutes.

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Despite facing a Chicago Bulls team that has posted the fourth-best defensive rating in the league, 102.5, over their last ten games, the Celtics received substantial offensive contributions from myriad players in Saturday night’s blowout 117-92 win. Fittingly, Irving led all scorers with 25 points, but he needed just 15 field goal attempts and 27 shots to do so.

Jaylen Brown returned from an absence in New York to drop 20 points while Tatum scored 13, Marcus Smart netted 11 and Horford, Baynes and Daniel Theis all added 10 points. Terry Rozier was not far behind, scoring eight points while rookie Semi Ojeleye went 2-for-3 from three.

This type of varied output has been a scarce occurrence for the Celtics this season. Their bench averages 30.3 points per game, ranking 23rd in the NBA. Hampered by the inconsistent shooting of Smart and Rozier, Boston’s bench is last in field goal percentage, hitting 37.5 percent of their shots. The Celtics’ bench is the lone unit in the NBA shooting below 40 percent from the field.

Although they utilized a 38-18 third quarter advantage to a victory, the Celtics were failed by their bench in the first half yet again. The Bulls rode a 12-4 run midway through the second quarter to grasp a 49-42 advantage, threatening to break Boston’s hearts for the second consecutive week. Over the course of this slide, the Celtics saw Ojeleye miss a three and go 0-for-2 on dunk attempts.

Overall, the bench fared 12-for-37 from the field with Smart and Rozier combining to shoot 8-for-22. If Boston wishes to go deep in the postseason without forcing Irving to play over 40 minutes per game, they need Smart to be more selective with his shots while drawing up better offensive sets to get other options more involved offensively.

Too often when the second unit is on the floor, Smart challenged a defender one-on-one in isolation situations with the other three perimeter players standing around on the three-point line. Head coach Brad Stevens needs to draw up more movement and take advantage of Smart’s unheralded passing skills. Smart is averaging 5.0 assists per game this season, but could be averaging 7.0 given his 30.6 minutes per game.

In the starting lineup, Tatum and Brown will need to continue to perform like they did on Saturday. Currently, Boston has only one player averaging at least 15 points per game. Can you guess who that player is?

The Cavaliers have Love, who is averaging 19.8 points per game, to supplant James with the return of Thomas on the horizon. The Raptors have Lowry to assist leading scorer DeRozan. The Wizards have Wall to help Beal out in the scoring department.

The Celtics need Brown and Tatum to step up their scoring output and emerge as the Robin to Irving’s Batman. Brown’s scoring has dropped from 15.4 points per game in October to 14.1 per game in December while Tatum’s scoring has remained stagnant around 14.0 per game each month this season.

Next: Celtics Need a Big Win Against Bulls

A scoring leap from one of these two would prove paramount to a team without Gordon Hayward, who was supposed to be the No. 2 scoring option that Boston did not have next to Thomas last season.

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