CHICAGO _ As Nikola Mirotic stewed over having his face broken by Bobby Portis' Oct. 17 punch and the early part of his season ruined by losing his starting job, the Bulls needed the passage of time.
They needed it for the once-toxic situation between Mirotic and Portis to normalize as much as possible. And they needed it to resuscitate Mirotic's trade value.
Monday night proved the latest positive development on all fronts. Mirotic and Portis may not be speaking off the court, but they continued to show support for each other on it, combining for 47 points in the Bulls' 108-85 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading and Kyrie Irving-less Celtics.
And the third straight victory _ and Mirotic's third straight positive contribution _ will only intensify efforts to trade the sharp-shooting forward once he's eligible to be dealt on Jan. 15. After all, part of the Bulls' rebuilding strategy is to get as high a draft pick as possible in a 2018 draft that is loaded at its top.
And with the victory, the Bulls are now tied with the Hawks for the league's worst record, which they previously held outright.
In fact, according to one Eastern Conference executive and one Western Conference executive, the Bulls already are making preliminary inquiries on Mirotic's value, along with Robin Lopez's. The Bulls, who are under the salary cap floor, are seeking to add future assets in the terms of draft picks without taking on long-term contracts.
"I want to start first playing and see how I feel. And I want to get healthy," Mirotic said, when asked if he wants to finish the season with the Bulls. "If I'm here now, it's because I want to be with the team."
With Lauri Markkanen sidelined by back spasms, Mirotic capitalized on his first start by scoring 13 of his 24 points in the first quarter. He showed his full array _ a 3-pointer, a dribble drive, a post-up _ and also finished with eight rebounds.
"The only thing I can say is Niko is back," Mirotic said. "Teammates are finding me. We're playing great basketball."
Portis sank his first five shots and scored a career-high 23 points, including 3-for-3 from 3-point range.
"The chemistry he and Bobby have had in that second unit has been really good," coach Fred Hoiberg said. "Both those guys have given us great minutes."
Irving sat with a left quad contusion suffered on Sunday. The Celtics also remained without Gordon Hayward, out for the season, and Marcus Morris.
"In my opinion, there's not another point guard playing better than him in the league," Hoiberg said of Irving.
Speaking of point guards, Jerian Grant became the first Bull to post consecutive games with at least nine assists off the bench since Wes Matthews way back in November 1984, according to basketball-reference.com. Grant has just one turnover in that span.
The Bulls led by double digits for the final 30 minutes, 28 seconds.
