BOSTON — The Boston Celtics and Bulls hit the dance floor for a second time this week, but this time it was on a big field of green for the first Emirates Cup group play game. Unfortunately for the Bulls, the different floor didn’t mean a different result. The Celtics wiped the green floor with the Bulls, going up by 32 points early on and, despite letting go of the rope in the second half, cruising to a 125-110 win. 

What the Box Score Tells You

- Jayson Tatum is very good: The final stat line was amazing: 26 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists. This felt like a casual night at the office for Tatum, who did most of his damage driving to the rim. 

- Payton Pritchard owns Chicago: 30 points off the bench, with most of the damage coming in the first half. At one point, as noted by radio play-by-play man Sean Grande, Pritchard had 48 points in 37 combined minutes against the Bulls this week.

- Paul George played a complete game: 18 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 steals for George in this game and the steals were really damaging. Two of them directly led to five points, and his third led to a three off an offensive rebound. All of the steals came early in the game, but he was still a defensive menace the whole night. 

- The Bulls are awful: I’ll get more into specifics down below, but just in general, the box score reveals just how gross things were for the Bulls. They can’t shoot, they can’t defend, and they turn the ball over a ton. The Celtics took their foot off the gas in the second half and the Bulls couldn't do a thing to capitalize.

What the Box Score WON’T Tell You

- Tatum’s screening led to layups and easy shots: The Bulls are like an infant who hasn’t yet mastered object permanence: they get easily confused by misdirection. And it doesn’t take much. Here’s an example:

Tatum’s screening has been a real weapon so far this season, with him either drawing multiple defenders after he releases, or somehow getting lost like this. Paul George being a legitimate threat really helps, especially on this play. Defenses are forced to make a decision, and the Celtics are incredible at making any decision the wrong one.

“I think Boston is one of the best teams in the league off the ball,” Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter said before the game. “It's really difficult to be aware of the flare [screens] that are coming. You got to really talk on defense. They have a bunch of shooters that can come off those off screens, and then you know at the same time you have Tatum [isolating] at the top, and he could drive the ball anytime. So you got to be aware of the flares going on.”

- The Bulls made some dumb mistakes: This is a wide open Sam Hauser three-pointer:

It’s wide open because a Bulls defender decided to help off Hauser on Tatum’s drive, even though Hauser was one pass away in the corner. 

The Bulls made a similar mistake helping off Pritchard a few plays later when he was one pass away. I know it’s Jayson Tatum, but Hauser alone in the corner is automatic. These are terrible mistakes.

- The Bulls gave fake effort: They died on screens all night long, but especially early on. This is why I said before the game that the way to bury the Bulls is with execution. A few passes is all it takes to confuse and frustrate them. 

- The Celtics defense was connected: A big reason why the Bulls made so many mistakes is that the Celtics were so good at taking away other options. The Bulls would run an action, get stuck because there were no outlets, and force a bad shot or turn the ball over. 

- Jordan Wash’s mistakes were actually costly: He had four personal fouls and two of them came on Norm Powell three-pointers. 

Of course this came on a day I wrote he was the Celtics secret weapon. That's my fault, Jordan. 

- Mazzulla hated the third quarter energy: Neemias Queta gave up two consecutive offensive rebounds and got subbed out a little more than a minute after checking in. He got an extended seat on the bench but it wasn’t too bad. He checked back in at the end of the quarter, but the overall issue still remained. The third quarter was a boring, low-energy affair. 

- The Celtics attacking waned the second half: The first half was defined by getting to the rim, but they backed off in the second. They had 17 attempts at the rim in the first half, making 14. They took 15 in the second half, making eight. They were blocked four times.