Celtics overcome slow start, beat Bulls by 29 points

Through 12 minutes of basketball against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night at TD Garden, the Boston Celtics appeared set for more of the same that's haunted an obviously-talented starting five far too often this season.

Despite some strong ball movement, their shot selection seemed iffy-at-best (they finished the first quarter 9-for-23 from the field), and their backcourt was carrying the bulk of the scoring, with Kyrie Irving and Jaylen Brown accounting for 15 of the club's 19 points. Oh, and worst of all, they were losing to the Bulls by five points by the quarter's end.

The Bulls.

But the Celtics more than responded in the second quarter, outscoring the Bulls 32-11, and scoring 37 of the game's next 49 points in total, and truly letting their talent take over in what finished as a 111-82 final.

For the Celtics, the bounce back in the second quarter was undoubtedly sparked by the continued excellence from Brown, as he contributed 12 points on a 5-for-10 first half from the field, and with a starter-best plus-12 rating.

Brown finished the night as Boston's leading scorer, with 18 points in 25 minutes.

Celtics guard Marcus Smart also hit a personal milestone in the winning effort, too, with a three-pointer that moved him ahead of Eddie House for 10th on the franchise's all-time three-pointers list.

In what was a second half built for the C's bench given the score, and with Marcus Morris (illness) out of commission for this game, Terry Rozier provided the scoring boost from the bench, with 15 points in 29 minutes.

And after the big blowout win, the road will get obviously harder for the Celtics, as they will host the Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz in a Friday-Saturday back-to-back at TD Garden. The C's are winless against each this season.