Joe Mazzulla, Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics will face the Chicago Bulls in their first NBA Cup game of the season on Friday, October 30.
Boston is competing in the Emirates NBA Cup Group C. They’re joined by the Bulls, Charlotte Hornets, Washington Wizards, and Atlanta Hawks.
On Thursday, October 29, the Celtics announced that Devin Carter is the only player on their injury report for Friday’s game. Carter, who signed a two-way contract with the Celtics ahead of the new season, is dealing with mononucleosis.
The rest of the Celtics roster is available.
Who Is Available For The Celtics?
With Carter being the only name on the Celtics injury report, Boston will have its usual, full-strength rotation to lean on.
As such, we will likely see a starting lineup of Derrick White, Jordan Walsh, Paul George, Jayson Tatum and Mitchell Robinson.
Payton Pritchard, Sam Hauser, Baylor Scheierman and Neemias Queta will likely be the primary four players to check in as part of Joe Mazzulla’s second unit.
The rotation listed above has performed well to begin the season. Boston is 3-1 over its first four games, bouncing back from an opening-night defeat to the Detroit Pistons. It’s worth noting that one of those three wins has already come against the Chicago Bulls.
Boston defeated Chicago 134-99 on Monday, October 26.
“Well, two things. They literally grab every offensive rebound. They made 3s, contested 3s. I mean, we knew that they are a very good team shooting a 3-ball, but when you give them second and third chances, it’s impossible,” Bulls’ head coach, Tiago Splitter, said after Boston’s win. “And you know, you gotta get better. I mean, those third quarters were very bad to say the least. And you know, we gotta fix it mentally. Whatever it is, we gotta start those third quarters better.”
Celtics Must Remain Focused vs. Bulls
Speaking to the media following the Celtics’ 134-99 win over Chicago on Monday, head coach Joe Mazzulla detailed why the Bulls can be a threat on the court.
“Chicago’s a good team, and they test you because they play at a certain pace the entire game,” Mazzulla said. “They put a ton of pressure on the margins and the transitions of the game. They do a great job of scoring after you score. We only gave up two of those tonight, one in each half, and we defended the transitions pretty well. Most of our turnovers were dead balls so they weren’t able to take advantage of those.”
Mazzulla continued.
“So, obviously we gotta clean that up. But I thought, like you said, we had great intensity in that second half, really throughout the game. Effort was there, mindset to execute. We just gotta be sharper both ends of the floor. Every game you play, whether you win or lose, there’s a bunch of possessions that you need to get better at.”
It’s fair to assume Mazzulla will have similar messaging for his team as the Celtics look to get their NBA Cup schedule off to a winning start.
Adam Taylor is a basketball reporter covering the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Miami Heat for Heavy. He holds bylines for CelticsBlog, USA Today and Yardbarker. Adam also covers the WWE and AEW. He has a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Open University. More about Adam Taylor