Payton Pritchard keeps finding the Bulls, and the Bulls keep failing to find him. He poured in 30 points Friday night as the Boston Celtics beat Chicago 125-111 in the NBA Cup opener for both teams at TD Garden, according to the AP recap.
He hit 9 of 17 shots and had 20 of those points before halftime. That is the same guy who dropped 28 points in just 22 minutes in the last meeting, four days earlier.
So yes, Chicago has now seen Pritchard twice this week. It has not gone well.
How the NBA Cup opener got out of hand
Boston came out hot, winning the first quarter 44-25. By the time the first half had 1:52 left, the Celtics led by 32 points, per the CBS Sports box score.
Chicago did not cut into the lead until the fourth quarter. By then, Boston’s starters were on the bench. The Bulls outscored the Celtics 37-26 in that final stretch, which made the final look a lot closer than the game felt.
Jayson Tatum added 26 points in 34 minutes. Boston also scored 56 points in the paint, which tells you how little resistance it met around the rim.
Pritchard’s night is not the only 30-point showing this week, either. Cade Cunningham put up 30 as the Pistons bounced back from their first loss.
Chicago’s rough week in the Emirates NBA Cup keeps getting rougher
The Bulls shot 38% (35 of 92) from the field and just 30% (15 of 50) from three. That is a lot of misses.
AP’s headline called Chicago turnover-prone, though the box score excerpt we reviewed doesn’t split the turnover totals by team, so we won’t put a number on it.
Caleb Wilson led Chicago with 23 points. Norman Powell had 16 and Matas Buzelis 14. The loss was Chicago’s fourth straight, and it dropped the Bulls to 1-5. Boston moved to 4-1, per ESPN.
Here’s the thing: these two teams already met on Oct. 26, and Boston won that one 134-99. That is a 35-point margin, and the Celtics turned 25 Bulls turnovers into 39 points.
Two meetings, two blowouts, and Boston has swept the season series so far.
What the win means for NBA Cup group play
Boston and Chicago sit in East Group C with Atlanta, Charlotte and Washington. Yahoo Sports calls it a fairly light group that Boston should be favored to win.
Still, the Celtics know group play can bite. They lost group games to Brooklyn last year and to Atlanta in 2024. A comfortable opening win is nice, but it does not lock up anything.
Next up, Boston visits Charlotte on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. ET. The Celtics then play at Washington on Nov. 24 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, and host Atlanta on Nov. 26. If you’re a fan hunting for the national-TV game, mark that Washington date.
Looking further ahead, the NBA Christmas Day schedule is already out.
As for Chicago, the Bulls have bigger problems than the Cup. At 1-5 with a four-game skid, the question is no longer whether they can catch Boston. It’s whether they can stop the bleeding before the rest of the group does the same thing.
