CLEVELAND — The Bulls kept pace with the Celtics on Friday because of their 3-point shooting.
The Bulls pushed the game into the final minutes with 20 3-pointers, a season-high for a Boston opponent. The Celtics are fourth in the NBA in 3-pointers allowed, meaning their defense is generally elite in preventing the trifecta.
That wasn’t the case Friday when Nikola Vucevic nailed four 3-pointers in a 93-second span. He wound up making 6 of 9 overall. Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis said his team has to be more physical.
“Our defense was far from ideal and hit a fire inside and we had to do a better job on him,” Porzingis said. “He had a great night shooting the ball. He was shooting with so much confidence. I’m going to look at the situation and how we could have guarded him better.”
The Celtics did defend better in the second half but they allowed 10 3-pointers, many of those were tightly defended. The heroics of Payton Pritchard and Jayson Tatum carried the Celtics in the final period.
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“We had to turn up the pressure a little bit more. We were scoring and maybe we weren’t as physical with them so they felt good about themselves,” Porzingis said. “The second half that was an emphasis for us, being more physical with them, make them work a little bit more for everything.
“The process was not that bad, but it looks bad because they were making shots. They were also making some open ones, which we could do a better job of.”
The Celtics defense got off to a slow start, but they enter Sunday’s game against the Cavaliers eighth in defensive rating. But they have also been able to win their fair share of shootouts.
Wow factor
Pritchard wowed the crowd at United Center on Friday with 18 of his 29 points coming in the first 6:35 of the fourth quarter. Pritchard has turned into instant offense coming off the bench, scoring a career-best 15.6 points per game on 44 percent shooting from the 3-point line.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla praised Pritchard as more than just a 3-point shooter.
“[Friday] it was his shooting but that [offensive] rebound he got was timely and his ball pressure and his defense,” Mazzulla said. “He’s a complete player. I know it sounds weird but he’s one of the best three-level scorers that I’ve seen, especially for his size. He’s just a high-level competitor.”
Open to question
Sunday’s game at Cleveland was considered a match between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference prior to Wednesday. But the Cavaliers were beaten twice by the Hawks, including a 16-point loss on Friday in Atlanta.
The Celtics are now just one-half game behind the Cavaliers in the East and they received some promising news regarding swingman Derrick White, who left Friday’s win over the Bulls with a right foot sprain. He has been declared as questionable vs. the Cavaliers.
Jrue Holiday has also been declared questionable with right adductor tightness while Al Horford and Porzingis are also questionable. The Celtics play the Heat on Monday in the second of a back-to-back set, meaning the club could stagger Horford and Porzingis to ensure one of those will be available for the second game. Neither play back-to-backs.
Porzingis said he felt fine after his second appearance of the season.
“It feels good,” he said of his surgically repaired ankle. “I don’t even think about it during the game. Feeling excellent.”
Wild-card scenarios
The Celtics didn’t get a lot of breaks Friday in their quest to reach the knockout round of the NBA Cup. First, the Hawks stunned the Cavaliers for the second time in three days to win Group C. The Hawks edged the Celtics by virtue of a 117-116 win in Boston Nov. 12.
The Celtics could have gotten some wild-card help if the Pacers had beaten the Pistons or the Nets had taken care of the Magic. But the Pistons and Magic each won in blowouts.
Yet, there are two things that need to happen for the Celtics to reach the quarters. The Magic, which has a plus-60 differential, would have to beat the Knicks on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, which would eliminate the Knicks from wild-card contention in Group A.
Then the Bucks-Pistons game would determine the Celtics’ fate. The Bucks would have to beat the Pistons by at least 5 points or the Pistons would have to beat the Bucks by at least 6 for the Celtics to qualify. The Celtics finished with a plus-23 point differential while the Bucks are plus-29 and the Pistons are plus-28 entering their showdown game in Detroit.
