Bulls guard Zach LaVine sees his effort to play hero vs. Celtics fall short

BOSTON — There was a time when it was only Zach LaVine.

At least that’s how it felt on many nights when the old Bulls regime was still running in rebuild mud, and it was sink or swim with No. 8.

No Nikola Vucevic patrolling the middle, no DeMar DeRozan playing hero.

For about 18 minutes Monday, it felt like old times after DeRozan was forced out of the game with an injured right quadriceps, leaving LaVine to finally get back the reins and try to deliver what would’ve been the signature win of the season against the Celtics on the road.

LaVine scored 15 of his team-high 27 points in the fourth quarter, but it still wasn’t enough as the Bulls fell 107-99.

“You want to have your boy with you; he got hurt,’’ LaVine said. “We were down. We’ve all been in that position before.

“You just gotta lay it out there. You’re not going to win by feeling sorry for yourself or we’re down a man. Just go lay it out there and see what happens. Couple of little bounces here and there, it could have been our game.’’

It did come down to bounces.

Down by 16, LaVine helped lead the charge, and with 1:17 left, a lay-up by Vucevic cut the deficit to two. The Bulls (19-22) seemed to continue riding that momentum after a miss by Jaylen Brown that set the stage for LaVine.

He got a solid look at the baseline, but his 16-footer went in and out with 50 seconds left. Al Horford didn’t have that same misfortune. He made the shot of the night.

His three-pointer bounced up in the air much like LaVine’s did but caught the right bounce at the right time.

“[LaVine] led the way,’’ DeRozan said. “I felt like he was going to close that thing out, give ourselves the opportunity to walk away with this thing.

‘‘I wasn’t surprised. I’ve seen it in him. Al hit the big shot, shake his hand, but as far as Zach, I knew he was going to turn it up, try to will us to get a win.’’

Even with the loss, the Bulls still finished the season series with a 2-2 record against Boston. That’s not too shabby, considering the Celtics only have 12 losses on the season.

The bad news was DeRozan’s quadriceps strain. He hasn’t missed a game all season, and while the quad had been bothering him for “like, eight games,’’ his hope was his attendance record would stay perfect on the season.

“I thought I tripped, but I guess apparently I tripped over nothing but the parquet floor,’’ DeRozan said of how the injury occurred, and, yes, he was using sarcasm.

DeRozan actually felt like he was tripped by a Celtic, but the officials missed it.

“I feel fine other than it being real irritated, nothing too crazy,’’ he said. “It’s just in that spot that when moving, you just need that to simmer down. We’ll see how I feel [Tuesday].’’

As for LaVine, he also had six assists and seven rebounds but was shaky from three-point range, going 4-for-13.

“[LaVine] knew a lot was going to fall on his shoulders, and I give him credit for taking on that responsibility,’’ coach Billy Donovan said. “Zach just knew, ‘I need to do this.’ ’’