Celtics 115-101 Bulls: Boston’s Fourth-Quarter Surge Seals Win—Watch Highlights, Key Stats & Standings Impact

The Boston Celtics kept their hot streak alive on Monday night, defeating the Chicago Bulls 115-101 to post another impressive Celtics score and climb into sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference. Inside TD Garden, Boston raced to a 25-5 close to the first quarter and never trailed again, turning a suffocating defense and relentless work on the glass into a double-digit cushion that withstood a late Bulls push. The latest Celtics score moved the club to 23-12 on the 2025-26 NBA schedule, its fourth straight victory and eighth win in the last nine outings. Key takeaways from the Celtics vs Bulls final score: • Second-half spark: Sixth-man Anfernee Simons erupted for 27 points after halftime, including a personal 18-0 run that blew the game open. The guard finished 9-for-13 in the second half and 6-for-10 beyond the arc. • Pritchard’s dagger threes: Payton Pritchard drilled a buzzer-beating triple to end the second quarter and stayed hot in the third, ending with 21 points on 5-for-11 long-range shooting. • Brown grinds it out: Two nights after a 50-point outburst in Los Angeles, Jaylen Brown struggled to 14 points on 6-for-24 shooting but supplied timely buckets late to quell Chicago’s rally. • Dirty-work dominance: Boston owned the offensive boards 20-6 and forced 17 Bulls turnovers, turning those extra chances into 28 points. The Celtics attempted 18 more shots despite hitting just 40 percent from the field. With the win, the latest Boston Celtics score leapfrogs the Knicks—losers earlier in the evening—and places head coach Joe Mazzulla’s group within striking distance of first-place Detroit. Boston also maintains the NBA’s best point differential and a top-three offensive rating, numbers that continue to outpace preseason projections. Looking ahead, the Celtics host the short-handed Denver Nuggets on Wednesday; three-time MVP Nikola Jokić is sidelined with a knee injury, presenting another opportunity for Boston to pad its record and keep positive “Celtics score” momentum rolling into mid-January.