The Boston Celtics led from start to finish on Wednesday night, putting five players in double figures in rolling to a 117-94 victory over the Chicago Bulls at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.
Boston (50-30) jumped out to a 31-14 first quarter lead that was 32-19 after the opening 12 minutes. Chicago sliced the lead to seven early in the second on a Tristan Thompson dunk, before the Celtics would push it back to 16 at halftime and were never challenged after that. The guests would go up by as many as 26 in the third quarter to cruise to their 50th victory of the season.
Jaylen Brown led the way with 25 points seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals for Boston. Al Horford had 17 points and 10 rebounds, Jayson Tatum added 16 points, 10 rebounds, and eight assists, Daniel Theis had 15 points and six rebounds, and Derrick White also got into double figures with 10 points. DeMar DeRozan had 16 points in the loss for Chicago, who sees their record drop to 45-35. The Celtics stay in contention for the #1 Eastern Conference seed with two games left, jumping ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks (both idle Wednesday night) by 1/2 game for second place. The Miami Heat own the top spot by two games. Boston visits the Bucks Thursday night before closing out the regular season on Sunday night in Memphis against the Grizzlies.
