Boston Celtics Cruise Past Chicago Bulls: Five reasons why they won easily

BOSTON — It was interesting timing to get a game between teams who traded with one another so soon after the deal, but we didn’t get any sort of big revenge battle. Nikola Vucevic did play well, but Anfernee Simons didn’t. In fact, no Bull really did. The Celtics offense did, though, and the Celtics went into the All-Star break with an easy win.

Box Score

Game Flow: The first quarter was a little sloppy, and Chicago had a five-point lead at one point. The Celtics got 22 combined from Jaylen Brown and Payton Pritchard, went on a 14-4 run, and finished the first quarter up nine. They started the second quarter by extending that run to 23-6, and then 32-8, ultimately winning the quarter 36-17 and going into the half up 72-44. The lead got as high as 33 as the Celtics cruised in the second half.

Here are five reasons they won this game so easily

The offense was humming

Once they got past the initial sloppiness, the Celtics offense started firing on all cylinders. Jaylen Brown was efficient and deadly, Payton Pritchard came in and dominated off the bench, and eventually Boston something positive from everybody. The ball moved well.

Beautiful Celtics ball movement leads to a Nikola Vucevic three pic.twitter.com/qEv3BhXRBj
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) February 12, 2026

The Celtics are coming off two games where their offensive rating was in the gutter, including a 94.7 against the Knicks. It was 127.8 against the Bulls, their best offensive rating in more than a month and their 13th-best of the season.

The Bulls are a bit of a mess right now

No one is really sure what they were trying to accomplish at the trade deadline, but it left them with a weird mix of players. On top of that, they were missing key guys like Josh Giddey and Isaac Okoro. And on top of THAT, Anfernee Simons did nothing.

Personally, I was expecting a bit of an explosion out of him, but he was off early and then he lost his aggression.

Nikola Vucevic did a bit of everything

He finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds, but his three assists were really fun.

Vucevic finds a cutting Jordan Walsh for the dunk, he is up to 9 points off the bench pic.twitter.com/Umad46nhJE
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) February 12, 2026

“[He was] much more comfortable today,” Joe Mazzulla said after the game. “It's always good to get out and practice and be able to do that, and he values the details and wants to get it right. So he put a lot of preparation into it and looked much better tonight.”

Hitting four of the five three-pointers you take will help all of this too, but his comfort level was definitely much higher in this game.

Jordan Walsh had a big game

He and Vucevic each shot 7-12 from the field. Vucevic scored three more points because he hit three more three-pointers. But Walsh was cutting, crashing, and defending, which are all the things he needs to do well to keep getting opportunities.

Jordan Walsh steal and slam pic.twitter.com/JurvQnDNMi
— Danielle Hobeika (@DanielleHobeika) February 12, 2026

This really was a perfect game from Walsh. He finished with 16 points, four offensive rebounds (including a couple of tip dunks), and three steals.

“It’s just coming in and making an impact right away,” Mazzulla said. “Everyone's got different roles and responsibilities, and his is when you come in, you've got to help us go on a run. You've got to do something, whether it's an offensive rebound, steal, deflection, block. So he takes his role serious, and I thought he was tremendous tonight on both ends of the floor.”

Derrick White was doing Derrick White things

He only had nine points, but he also had nine assists, two steals, two blocks, an offensive rebound, and he shot 2-5 from three (40%). He was +22, second-best on the team (Vucevic was +26).

PLUS/MINUS

Pluses

► Jaylen Brown got going early and then seemed to back off and let Vucevic do his thing once the game was in hand. Brown finished with 24 points, four rebounds, and four assists.

► I mentioned Pritchard earlier, but 26 points on 11-18 shooting (3-8 3pt) and eight assists is a hell of a night. I probably should have made him a sixth reason why they won, but I stopped at the round number.

► Always great to see Sam Hauser shoot 4-7 from deep.

► Billy Donovan burned a timeout early in the second quarter with a player on the floor and Boston trying to force a jump ball. That ended up being a big mistake because he ended up waiting for his team to stop a huge Celtics run, which they never could. It ended up being a 32-8 run that put Boston up 23. They’d eventually go up by 29, and the halftime score settled at 72-44.

Minuses

► Luka Garza didn’t get in until garbage time. I pegged him as the odd man out, and right now that seems to be coming to fruition. Let’s see if I’m actually right or if things change on their trip west next week.

► Tough night for Hugo Gonzalez, who only played nine minutes. At one point he committed a foul, was taken out of the game, and went to the bench and yelled at himself. He’s an intense competitor, and I think that might have worked against him in this one, as he was clearly frustrated with his own mistakes.

Next up: It’s the All-Star break! The season resumes next Thursday at Golden State.