Pritchard scores 28 points and has red-hot 3rd quarter to carry Celtics to 134-99 rout over Bulls

BOSTON (AP) — Payton Pritchard made all five of his 3-point attempts during Boston’s big third quarter and finished with 28 points, to lead the Celtics to a 134-99 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Monday night.

Jayson Tatum had 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and Paul George scored 16 points for Boston (2-1), which outscored the Bulls 39-21 in the third when Prichard scored 19.

Norman Powell led the Bulls (1-3) with 20 points.

Boston never trailed, opening a 16-point lead early in the second, led by 12 at halftime and 30 after three. Tatum had 19 of his points in the first half, including a buzzer-beating drive at the end of the first and long 3-pointer with .8 left in the second.

The Celtics had been off since winning their home opener against the defending champion Knicks on Friday when Tatum carried them with 36 points and during his postgame press conference attempted to play down any possible beef with former teammate Jaylen Brown, who was traded to Philadelphia during the offseason.

Brown, though, didn’t quite let perception fade away a couple of days later.

George, Pritchard and Sam Hauser each nailed a 3 during a 93-second stretch that pushed Boston ahead 89-70 late in the third.

Pritchard made consecutive 3s two minutes later, making it 101-73. The Celtics made 8-of-13 3s in the third.

Entering the day owning the league’s worst 3-point shooting percentage at 22.6%, the Bulls missed 15 of their initial 19 attempts from beyond the arc and finished 12 of 44.

Chicago lost its home opener in its last game on Saturday. In a scheduling quirk, the teams met in Boston again Friday.

Up next

Bulls: Host New York on Wednesday night.

Celtics: Host Brooklyn on Tuesday night.

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