Marcus Smart makes it clear that he would like to be involved more in the Celtics' strategy for the final game. (0:50).
BOSTON -- Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown were called out by Marcus Smart after the Boston Celtics lost their third consecutive game on Monday night. Smart said that the star duo needed to get more involvement from their teammates.
Smart stated that "every team knows we're trying go to Jayson, Jaylen," after the Chicago Bulls' 128-114 defeat. "Every team has been programmed to stop Jayson or Jaylen. Everybody's goal in scouting is to get those guys to pass the ball. They don't want the ball."
Tatum and Brown combined for 48 points, but Tatum struggled to score late in a game in which the Bulls rallied from a 19 point deficit in the second quarter. Tatum scored two points in the fourth quarter on 1-for-8 shooting, while Brown had only two.
Smart stated, "That's something they're going learn." They're still learning. They're proud to be making progress, but they have to take another step to create opportunities for others and open the court to them.
"... They're learning and it's something that we have been asking them to do. It's up to us to continue helping those guys to do the right thing for our team.
With three minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Celtics had led 94-75 and were leading 103-89 entering the fourth quarter. Chicago scored 12 points in the final quarter to reduce the deficit to 103-101 with less than 8 minutes remaining.
Ayo Dosunmu was a second-round draft selection who scored 14 points in his first double-digit scoring performance. The Bulls led 106-105 with 6:53 remaining. After briefly taking the lead, the Celtics regained it before Chicago scored the next 20 points.
"We got up, got comfy, got a bit too cute thinking that the game was over" said Ime Udoka (Celtics coach), who dropped to 2-5 his first season as the head coach. "We celebrated early. It was a valuable lesson: If you mess up the game, it will backfire on you.
With the win, the Bulls moved up to 6-1
This story used information from The Associated Press.
