Boston.com and Celtics.com reported a $200 million gift to Boston Children's Hospital led by the Celtics' owners. Boston, 3-1 and third in the East, hosts a 1-4 Chicago team tonight in an NBA Cup game.
The biggest Celtics news this week came from ownership, not the court.
Boston.com called the owners' $200 million gift to Boston Children's Hospital unprecedented, and Celtics.com carried the hospital's announcement. The Jaylen Brown noise has not settled. According to Boston.com, Mazzulla took questions from live callers about Brown on 98.5 The Sports Hub, and Brown refuted the trade-request report. Kris Rhim wrote on October 27 that Brown's representative had denied it.
Chicago returns with a worse record and a thinner frontcourt.
The Bulls arrive 1-4 and have dropped three straight. Patrick Williams and Nic Claxton are out, and Jalen Smith and Tobe Awaka are day-to-day. Smith gives them 13.4 points and 8.2 rebounds a night. Boston has had two days of rest, Chicago one, and the Bulls are the road team. Four days ago Boston won 134-99 behind 28 from Pritchard. A 35-point game is one sample. It is not a measure of the gap between the teams.
Chicago's defense is the number that matters tonight.
The Bulls allow 121.7 points per 100 possessions, and their pace is 107.4. Boston's defensive rating is 108.5 and its pace is 100.0. Chicago wants a track meet, and Boston has no need to agree to one. Five games do not define a defense, but they rarely flatter one that has given up this much.
Tatum is carrying the offense without his jumper.
Tatum is scoring 28.0 a night and handing out 8.0 assists while shooting 24.1 percent from three. Either the shooting comes back or the volume becomes a problem, and four games cannot tell which. After tonight comes a road pair, at Orlando on November 1 and at Houston on November 2. Devin Carter is out, with an estimated return of November 8.
When do the Celtics play the Bulls again?
Tonight, October 30, at home in an NBA Cup game. Boston won the first meeting 134-99 on October 26.
Did Jaylen Brown demand a trade from the Celtics?
Kris Rhim wrote on October 27 that Brown's representative denied the claim. Boston.com wrote that Brown also refuted the report himself.
