Pritchard Hits Five Straight Threes — Boston's 35-Point Rout Reveals a New Formula
GOATIFYFor two games, Boston had asked Jayson Tatum and Paul George to carry most of the difficult scoring. On Monday, the Celtics found a much more dangerous answer. Payton Pritchard came off the bench, buried five three-pointers without a miss in the third quarter and turned a competitive game against Chicago into a 134–99 demolition. His 28 points were the headline, but the more important development was what happened while Tatum watched from the bench.
Boston was only ten points ahead when foul trouble interrupted Tatum's night. Rather than surrender the advantage, the Celtics expanded it into a 30-point lead by the end of the period. That matters for a team still figuring out how to distribute offense after a major summer reshuffle. A blowout against a rebuilding opponent cannot settle a championship argument in October. It can, however, reveal the outlines of a rotation that might be considerably harder to defend than the first two games suggested.
Tatum Built the Lead — Then Foul Trouble Forced Boston to Adapt
Boston's final margin makes the night look effortless, but the first half had several reminders of how quickly a game can change. The Celtics opened 33–21 after one quarter and pushed the advantage to 44–28 early in the second. Chicago then ripped off twelve unanswered points, shrinking the margin to four and briefly putting the home team back under pressure. A team without an alternative creator could have become stuck waiting for its best player to manufacture another difficult basket.
Tatum prevented that early wobble from becoming a genuine crisis. He finished the half with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists, punctuating it with a long three-pointer near the buzzer. His full line of 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists was accomplished in fewer than 30 minutes. The numbers matter less than their distribution: he was scoring when Boston needed a stabilizer and passing when the Bulls sent attention toward him. His play helped create the twelve-point halftime cushion that Pritchard would later exploit.
The more revealing sequence came in the third quarter. Tatum picked up his fourth foul, and coach Joe Mazzulla removed him while the lead was still manageable for Chicago. That is precisely the situation in which Boston's offensive identity was supposed to be tested this season. The Celtics lost Jaylen Brown in an offseason trade, added George and have been trying to establish combinations that can create reliable offense without asking Tatum to solve every possession. Against the Bulls, the non-Tatum group did not simply survive. It became the most productive unit on the floor.
There is an important caution. Chicago entered the game with serious shooting problems and did little to punish Boston's mistakes. The Celtics committed 25 turnovers themselves, a number that would be difficult to overcome against a stronger opponent. Yet the ability to generate good looks after Tatum sat is a real tactical signal. If Boston can consistently move the ball, protect the defensive glass and preserve shooting threats across its rotations, foul trouble becomes an inconvenience rather than an emergency. That is a more sustainable model than asking one superstar to rescue every unstable stretch.
Pritchard's Five-for-Five Third Quarter Changed the Entire Game
Pritchard scored 19 of his 28 points in the third quarter, when Boston outscored Chicago 39–21. He made all five of his attempts from beyond the arc during that period and finished seven-for-ten from deep. The decisive burst was not a collection of isolated trick shots. It came from a team that kept producing opportunities for its guards and wings, stretching the defense until Chicago could no longer cover the next pass or recover to the next shooter.
The score was still within reach early in the third. Then an 11–1 Boston run opened a 95–71 advantage, and three successive Pritchard triples pushed it to 104–73 with less than a minute left. By the end of the quarter, Boston led 105–75. Pritchard was the finisher, but the threat of Sam Hauser, Paul George and other perimeter options helped make the sequence possible. Boston made eight of thirteen threes in the quarter and 21 of 44 for the game. That is a staggering volume of made shots, especially for a team that still has significant offensive questions to answer.
Pritchard's performance also arrived at an unusually relevant moment in his career. Boston recently agreed to a two-year contract extension with the 28-year-old guard, reinforcing its belief that his scoring and playmaking will remain important beyond this season. He averaged a career-high 17 points and 5.2 assists in 2025–26. That track record gives this eruption more meaning than an anonymous bench player enjoying one hot night. He has been steadily expanding his role, and Boston now needs him to create advantages rather than merely maintain them.
None of this means the Celtics should build their offense around the expectation of five consecutive threes. That would be a poor bet for any shooter. The more repeatable ingredient is Pritchard's willingness to attack early, move the defense and take shots with confidence. He had been quiet in the first two games, so the aggressive approach was a welcome correction. When his jumper falls, opponents must chase him farther from the basket. That creates lanes for cutters and makes it harder to send help toward Tatum. The explosion against Chicago was extreme; the underlying spacing benefit can last much longer.
George and the Supporting Cast Give Boston Multiple Ways to Win
George's arrival changed the questions Boston has to answer. The former Philadelphia forward scored 38 in the season opener at Detroit, while Tatum took over with 36 against the Knicks. Monday offered a third version: Pritchard led the team with 28, Tatum contributed 23 and George added 16. Three different scoring leaders across three games is not proof of perfect balance, but it suggests the Celtics can be less predictable than their roster changes initially implied.
George is especially useful when he can move between primary scorer and complementary wing without losing his influence. His size lets Boston create matchups on the perimeter, and his shooting keeps defenders occupied when Tatum or Pritchard initiates an action. Against Chicago, he made three three-pointers. Hauser made three as well, providing another player opponents cannot casually abandon. The result was a Celtics offense that did not require every possession to begin with an isolation against a set defense.
There were quieter contributions, too. Hugo González scored 13 points, and the Celtics found useful minutes from different combinations while limiting the workload of their leading veterans. Mitchell Robinson's presence and the club's emphasis on rebounding helped Boston finish with a 54–40 edge on the glass. That number is particularly important because the Bulls had moments of momentum earlier in the night. Extra possessions and clean defensive rebounds can turn an opponent's brief run into a missed opportunity rather than a lasting shift in control.
Mazzulla has talked about the need for different lineup identities, and the Chicago game illustrated the practical value of that idea. One group can lean on Tatum's passing, another on George's shot creation, and another on Pritchard's pace and pull-up shooting. The challenge is ensuring that these identities remain connected by defensive discipline and ball movement. Boston's 25 turnovers were a glaring warning against assuming everything is fixed. The next step is to make the offense less dependent on a spectacular shooting percentage while preserving the freedom that produced Monday's avalanche.
Boston also faces a quick turnaround against Brooklyn, with decisions to make about the workload of players carrying recent injury histories. That makes this depth experiment more than a tactical curiosity. It could determine whether the Celtics can keep winning while managing minutes, and whether their new supporting cast can turn one blowout into a reliable pattern.
Chicago Took 44 Threes — and the Math Turned Against the Bulls
Chicago's defeat was not just a case of being overwhelmed by a historically hot opponent. The Bulls generated almost the same three-point volume as Boston, taking 44 attempts, but made only twelve. Boston converted 21. That nine-make difference is worth 27 points, explaining most of the 35-point final margin before accounting for rebounding and other possession battles. Chicago also shot just 39.3 percent from the field and could not keep its offense organized once the Celtics began pulling away.
Norman Powell led Chicago with 20 points, and rookie Caleb Wilson supplied 17. Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis each scored eleven. There are promising pieces in that group, particularly for a franchise trying to establish a new identity, but individual flashes did not become a collective response. The Bulls had cut a sixteen-point deficit to four in the second quarter and briefly looked capable of making Boston uncomfortable. Their inability to sustain that pressure revealed how fragile their half-court attack can be when perimeter shots fail.
Turnovers complicate the analysis. Both teams committed 25, which means Chicago was not simply buried because Boston protected the ball better. The Celtics survived sloppy stretches because they dominated the boards and converted an unusually high share of their threes. The Bulls had no comparable release valve. Missing 32 three-point attempts while allowing Boston to shoot nearly 48 percent from deep is a punishing combination, and the defensive breakdowns that preceded several open looks made the arithmetic even worse.
The Bulls should not respond by abandoning three-point shooting altogether. Modern spacing is too valuable for that, and players such as Powell can create efficient offense when the ball moves. The adjustment must be in shot quality, defensive transition and how the team reacts after a few misses. If Chicago's possessions become a sequence of rushed perimeter attempts, it gives opponents chances to run and makes every cold stretch more damaging. The club also needs to turn Wilson's encouraging flashes into a steadier source of interior pressure.
There is an unusually quick opportunity to test those lessons. Chicago returns to Boston on Friday after hosting New York on Wednesday. The rematch will not erase Monday's result, but it can reveal whether the Bulls can slow Pritchard's movement, contest without overhelping and keep the game competitive beyond halftime. For Boston, the same matchup will test whether the shooting advantage was simply one perfect night or a sign of a deeper offensive change.
Boston's 134–99 win should not be treated as a declaration that the Eastern Conference race is over. The Celtics are 2–1, and the season is barely underway. But there is a reason this victory feels different from a routine October blowout. Tatum provided the early structure, Pritchard supplied the decisive acceleration, and George, Hauser and the supporting cast showed how many ways the team can create a quality shot.
The test is what happens when the threes stop falling at a ridiculous rate. If Boston can still win the non-Tatum minutes, defend without giving away possessions and keep its secondary creators involved, Monday will look like an early glimpse of a viable new formula. If not, it will remain a dazzling shooting night against a struggling Bulls team. Either way, Pritchard has given Mazzulla a far more interesting rotation problem than the Celtics had a week ago.
