If the Chicago Bulls are to beat the host Boston Celtics on Wednesday night it, they’ll do it without leading scorer Zach LaVine.
LaVine and his wife, Hunter, recently announced they are expecting their third child, and LaVine won’t be with the team for its three-game road trip, according to Chicago coach Billy Donovan. The Bulls will play at Toronto on Friday and at Detroit on Sunday.
LaVine, who has been mentioned in trade rumors this season, is averaging 24.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, and is shooting 51.1 percent from the field. He tossed in a team-high 21 points when the Bulls ended a two-game losing streak by beating Denver 129-121 on Monday. Chicago received 41 points from its bench.
“This is the way we’re supposed to be playing,” LaVine said. “First unit, second unit — we played with energy, we played through runs. When they (bench players) give us a boost like that, it’s great.”
Chicago went 24 of 53 on 3-point attempts. The Bulls entered the contest with seven losses in their last eight games.
“The last five, 10 games, the things that have gone down have been, one, our 3-point volume,” Donovan said. “Two, our transition volume, and the third part is the potential assists and ball movement. If we don’t do those three things really well, it’s hard for us. We have to be a team with five to seven guys in double figures. We have to move it. We have to generate easy baskets.”
Although the Celtics are second in the Eastern Conference, they’ve been playing inconsistent basketball this month. Boston is 6-6 in its last 12 games. Monday’s 114-112 loss to Houston was Boston’s third loss in its last five home games and dropped the team’s home record to 15-9. The Celtics were 37-4 at home last season.
“I thought we competed,” said Boston’s Jaylen Brown, who scored a team-high 28 points against the Rockets. “Give credit to Houston. The people we wanted to make beat us, beat us. We wanted to get Jalen (Green), Fred (VanVleet), and (Alperen) Sengun — we wanted to take them away, and we kinda accomplished that. But Dillon Brooks (season-high 36 points) and Amen Thompson (career-best 33) made us pay.”
Boston played without Derrick White (shin), Sam Hauser (hip) and Al Horford (toe). White is expected to play Wednesday while Hauser, Horford and Jayson Tatum (knee) are questionable.
The Celtics lost despite leading by 12 early in the fourth quarter. It was the ninth time they’ve lost a game this season when they had the lead in the fourth, and their seventh loss when they held at least a 10-point lead at some point in a game.
“We have to be better down the stretch and execute,” Brown said. “(Monday night) wasn’t the best example of that, so it’s something we have to look at, for sure.”
One of Boston’s home losses this season came against Chicago, which earned a 117-108 victory in Boston on Dec. 19. LaVine scored 36 points that night.
Boston won the two other matchups between the teams this season, both of which were played in Chicago. The Celtics prevailed 138-129 on Nov. 29, and 123-98 on Dec. 21.
Chicago’s Coby White (ankle) is questionable.