Chicago Bulls: Top 10 moments from 2017-18 NBA season

5. Bulls pound shorthanded Boston Celtics

With the additions of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, the Celtics were expected to at least make it back to the conference finals. Meanwhile, the Bulls had dropped 20 of their first 25 games and on paper at least, weren’t going to be much of a match for the Celts.

Ah, but this why they play the games, right?

Fortunately for the Bulls, both Irving and Hayward were out of the mix for this matchup, which gave them an opportunity to make this Dec. 11 game somewhat competitive. As it turned out, the Bulls were able to do that and then some.

With just one point separating the two teams after the first 12 minutes of action, the Bulls played out of their minds over the next three quarters, outscoring the Celtics to the tune of 80-56 en route to a surprising 108-85 victory.

On top of that, the Bulls limited the Celts to just 39.8 percent shooting from the field and 25 percent from beyond the arc.

As unlikely as the final outcome was, the even greater irony had to do with the two players who led Chicago’s attack — Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic — who were involved in a preseason altercation that resulted in the two forwards missing a total of 31 games.

Mirotic led all scorers with 24 points to go along with eight boards, while finishing with a +13 rating. Portis chipped in with 29 points, four rebounds and a rating of +29.

The overall takeaway here is an unlikely duo led the Bulls to an improbable blowout win against a team who had won 23 of its first 28 contests.