Chicago’s Javonte Green pressures Boston’s Jaylen Brown in the first half Monday night in Chicago. Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press
CHICAGO — DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points, Nikola Vucevic added 18 points and 23 rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls wiped out a big early deficit to beat the Boston Celtics 120-102 on Monday night.
The Bulls went from trailing by 19 in the first quarter with Jayson Tatum providing an early spark for Boston to leading by 16 near the end of the half. They then went on a big run after the lead dwindled to three early in the third and handed the Celtics their first loss after a 3-0 start.
Ayo Dosunmu scored 22. Zach LaVine, playing his second game after missing the first two, added 19 points, helping the Bulls stop a two-game skid and pick up their first win since the opener at Miami.
Tatum, averaging an NBA-leading 34.7 points coming in, scored 26. The three-time All-Star had 15 in the first quarter. Jaylen Brown added 21 points. But interim coach Joe Mazzulla and Grant Williams got ejected.
Mazzulla picked up two technicals with just under five minutes left in the third quarter, leaving assistant Damon Stoudamire to run the team. Williams got tossed early in the fourth after showing up referee Natalie Sago.
Marcus Smart cut it to 69-66 with a 3-pointer to finish a 17-4 run that started just before halftime. But the Bulls responded with a 15-2 run. DeRozan hit both technical free throws to make it 84-68 after Mazzulla got ejected.
•Celtics center Al Horford was not listed on the injury report after missing a game because of low back stiffness. … There was a video tribute for Celtics great Bill Russell prior to the game.
• Tatum was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week.
Tatum averaged 34.7 points per game – including a 40-point performance in Saturday’s win over the Magic – and shot 58.7% from the field as he led the Celtics to a 3-0 start with victories over the 76ers, Heat and Magic. He scored 104 points, the most by any player in Celtics history through the team’s first three games of a season.
That broke the record set by Larry Bird, who scored 96 points in the first three games of the 1984-85 season.
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