Payton Pritchard scored 30 points and the Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls 125-111 on Friday night at TD Garden. It was the opener of NBA Cup group play for both teams. ESPN's game story called the Bulls "turnover-prone." Deadspin said Pritchard's 30 was a season high and that he got it off the bench.

The box score backs that up. Pritchard shot 9-of-17, made 3 of 9 threes and went 9-for-9 at the line in 34 minutes. He had three assists and two steals. Jayson Tatum added 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, as Deadspin noted. He shot 9-of-20 and had four turnovers. Paul George had 18 points and eight assists. Neemias Queta had 13 points and six rebounds, and Mitchell Robinson had 11 on 4-of-4 shooting.

Boston settled the game early. It scored 44 in the first quarter and 78 in the first half, and its largest lead was 32. The Bulls led for about 4 percent of the game and never by more than three. The Celtics shot 51 percent to Chicago's 38 and outscored the Bulls 58-40 in the paint. Chicago's turnovers were not especially costly in the box score. It had 16 to Boston's 14 (15 counting a team turnover), and Boston scored 21 points off its giveaways. Chicago did win the glass 51-41, with 20 offensive rebounds, but it shot 35-of-92 and 15-of-50 from three. Caleb Wilson led the Bulls with 23 points and six threes. Norman Powell had 16 and Matas Buzelis 14. The Bulls outscored Boston 37-26 in the fourth, when the game was already decided.

This was the second meeting in five days. Boston won 134-99 in Chicago's building on Monday, Oct. 26, so the Celtics have beaten the Bulls by a combined 49 points. Chicago has lost five straight and is 0-5, last in the Central. Three days before this game it lost 133-127 to New York.

The outlets disagree on Boston's record. CelticsBlog's Ryan Paice described a four-game win streak that put the Celtics at 4-1. Deadspin called it the fourth straight win. BenchScout's tables have Boston at 3-1 with a three-game streak, second in the Atlantic. That count is the one we are using.

Boston's next game is Sunday, Nov. 1, at Orlando. Chicago plays Monday, Nov. 2, at Philadelphia, still looking for its first win.