Derrick Rose leads the way as expected — he drops 30 points, eight assists, five rebounds and two steals for the Bulls. The "MVP" chants are pouring down on Rose, who dramatically outplayed Rajon Rondo to cement this victory.
Paul Pierce leads the Celtics with 15 points. Only three of the C's finish in double figures.
This should just about ice the No. 1 playoff seed in the East for Chicago. The magic number is now one.
The C's are tied with the Miami Heat in the race for No. 2, and they return home Friday night to fight for it. They're taking on the Washington Wizards at the TD Garden.
Fourth quarter, 2:51, Bulls 87-73: Luol Deng just got kicked in the head by teammate Taj Gibson while trying to contest Paul Pierce's shot. That's some painful friendly fire. Deng is down and doesn't look too comfortable.
The Bulls might want to consider resting Deng and the rest of their starters from here. This game's all but over.
Fourth quarter, 5:03, Bulls 85-68: Rose for 3. He's now got 28 with eight assists.
The Celtics just look totally overmatched. If they get this badly outplayed again in the playoffs, it's going to be a very sad spring in Boston.
Fourth quarter, 6:30, Bulls 82-68: Great play by Taj Gibson, hustling for the offensive rebound and kicking it out to Kyle Korver for the second-chance bucket. Reliable old Korver hits a nice jumper.
The Bulls are up by 14 again. If this game isn't over, it's at least very close.
Fourth quarter, 8:29, Bulls 80-65: Derrick Rose is too fast even for himself sometimes. He just went to the basket with a full head of steam and lost control of the basketball. Out of bounds; Celtics ball.
The C's need to get their starters back in there and make a push, pronto. They can't go down without at least a fight.
Fourth quarter, 9:10, Bulls 78-65: The Celtics aren't dead and buried, but they're close. Jeff Green continues to keep them in the game by creating his own shot with energy.
On the other end, Green is giving the Celtics nothing. He can't stop Carlos Boozer, and absolutely no one can stop Derrick Rose. This Bulls team is just too much to handle right now.
End of third quarter, Bulls 71-60: The Celtics' offense has really run out of gas. The Rondo-Big Baby two-man game is really all they have right now, and that's not enough.
Not enough Ray Allen. Not enough Paul Pierce. Just not enough firepower to win this game, period.
Tom Thibodeau's defense has been stifling. You don't often see the Celtics held to 20 points per quarter, but that's been the case tonight.
Meanwhile, Derrick Rose has piled up 23 points, six assists and four rebounds. Not a bad night's work.
Third quarter, 3:35, Bulls 60-56: Nice entry pass by Rajon Rondo; nice finish by Ray Allen.
Rondo has put up very nice numbers in this game (seven points, six assists, four rebounds), but beyond the stats, the true test is whether he can get Ray involved down the stretch. Ray's yet to make a 3-pointer tonight, only attempting two. His offense could be the X-factor, but only if Rondo takes the initiative to get him going.
Third quarter, 4:36, Bulls 60-54: The Celtics finally snap the Bulls' 10-0 run, getting one bucket from Paul Pierce and another on a layup in transition from Rajon Rondo.
The Celtics need to get stops and run the break if they want Rondo to give them anything offensively. There's no way he's creating his own shot against this airtight Bulls defense.
Third quarter, 6:57, Bulls 56-49: Rajon Rondo hustles like crazy for the offensive rebound, but Luol Deng takes the ball away and gets going in transition. He finishes with an emphatic dunk.
The Bulls have answered the Celtics' 6-0 run with an 8-0 streak of their own. They're now up seven.
Rondo now has four points, five assists and four rebounds. There's a chance he finishes with a triple-double in a loss. That's scary.
Third quarter, 9:59, Bulls 50-49: The Celtics open the second half on a 6-0 run, including a couple of buckets from Rajon Rondo, but then Luol Deng puts the Bulls back in front.
If the Celtics are going to seize control, the second half has to belong to Rondo. The C's point guard had zero points at halftime; he has four now. If he keeps it up, it's a whole new ballgame.
Halftime, Bulls 48-43: It's Derrick Rose's world, and we all just live in. The Bulls' floor leader has poured in 16 points, and he's staked them to a five-point lead at the break.
The C's get 10 points and four rebounds from Kevin Garnett. He's amped up for this one, but he's got to get everyone else in green to match his intensity.
The Celtics are alive in this game, but unless they can slow Rose in the second half, they're not well. They need an inspired second half from Rajon Rondo.
Second quarter, 2:48, Bulls 44-37: What a play by Derrick Rose. The youngster charges to the basket, looks for his own shot at the rim, and when that option breaks down, he wings it 20 feet to Luol Deng for an open 3. Deng nails it.
That's 16 points and four assists now for Rose. The Bulls are back up by seven.
Rajon Rondo is still scoreless.
Second quarter, 5:13, Bulls 37-33: The Celtics' second unit is firing. Glen Davis, Jeff Green, Nenad Krstic and Delonte West are all hitting shots.
Kevin Garnett reenters the game and gets a good look inside, posting up Joakim Noah. He draws the foul.
KG and Noah each only have two points so far. They're both intense competitors, and so far they've neutralized each other pretty well.
Second quarter, 7:58, Bulls 33-24: The one thing keeping this game from becoming a runaway is the instant offense of Jeff Green. The young forward comes up with back-to-back buckets inside, and the Celtics stay within nine.
If they can maintain the defensive effort and cut down on the turnovers, they can really make a game of this thing.
Second quarter, 9:04, Bulls 31-22: This Celtic second unit is working really hard on the defensive end, but you're not seeing any difference on the scoreboard. Taj Gibson just hit an unguardable fadeaway jump shot with Glen Davis right in his face.
The Bulls are 11-for-21 from the field in this game. It feels like they're even better. They're getting good looks and knocking them down.
Second quarter, 11:21, Bulls 29-18: Doc Rivers needs an early timeout. Kyle Korver just nailed a wing 3, the Bulls' third of the game. It's now a double-digit lead.
It's hard work to get out there and contest shots, but that work has to be done.
End of first quarter, Bulls 26-18: Just as the Celtics feared, Derrick Rose is again outplaying Rajon Rondo, and that's the primary reason Chicago has an eight-point lead after one.
Rose is 3-for-6 from the field and has already hit four free throws; he's got 10 points and three assists. Rondo is still scoreless — he just missed a buzzer-beater and is now 0-for-3.
The beauty of Rondo's game, though, is he finds other ways to help the team when his shots aren't falling. Tonight's no different — the little man has four assists and a rebound already.
The C's have three guys with four points each, but one of them is Paul Pierce, who's on the bench with two early fouls. They need more from their captain.
First quarter, 2:49, Bulls 17-12: The fact that Derrick Rose is getting breakaways for dunks in transition? Not surprising. The fact that Keith Bogans is hitting 3s with ease? A little more surprising.
For his career, Bogans is a 35.4 percent shooter from long distance. You could argue that his ego exceeds his true ability a little bit.
So far tonight, though, Bogans is feeling it. That only makes the Bulls' defense tougher to contain.
First quarter, 5:26, Bulls 11-10: The C's made their first four field goal attempts of this game. They've since cooled off quite a bit. It just took a 15-footer from Ray Allen to snap an 0-for-6 streak.
The Celtics' offense weakens in some slight, nuanced ways when Jermaine O'Neal comes off the floor. He's a better screener than Glen Davis, for example, which changes the way the C's open up their shooters.
Big Baby is off to a slow start. Hasn't done much of anything yet.
First quarter, 6:29, Bulls 11-8: The Bulls reclaim the lead with a 7-0 run, and Kevin Garnett clearly isn't happy. The Big Ticket delivers a big hard foul to Joakim Noah.
Those two guys have never been particularly fond of each other. Some things never change.
First quarter, 9:25, Celtics 8-4: Jermaine O'Neal is off to a rip-roaring start, getting two very nice looks inside and starting 2-for-2. He's got as many points as the Bulls' whole team right now.
The Bulls can't hide Carlos Boozer defensively. They tried putting him on J.O. because he's too short to guard Kevin Garnett, but J.O. is scoring on him with ease.
Tom Thibodeau calls a timeout. He's got some early adjustments to make.
First quarter, 11:39, Bulls 2-0: The Bulls win the opening tip, and Luol Deng gets into the paint for a nice look on the first possession of the ballgame. He draws a foul, gets to the line and hits two shots.
Derrick Rose has yet to touch the ball. That probably won't last long.
8 p.m.: Derrick Rose is considered by many the frontrunner to take home MVP honors this season. He can cement that status with another big performance Thursday night on the big stage — national TV audience, big playoff implications, marquee matchup with Boston's Rajon Rondo.
Rose killed the Celtics last time he faced them — he dropped 36 points on Jan. 8 in Chicago, shooting 10-of-19 from the field and 15-of-19 from the line. If he can replicate that now, then game over. Rose is your MVP.
If not? If Rondo shuts Rose down, then maybe the door opens a little bit. Dwight Howard and LeBron James will be waiting with bated breath, no doubt.
7 p.m.: We're an hour away from game time, and these teams mean business.
Earlier this season, there were a lot of storylines surrounding this Boston-Chicago matchup — the return of Tom Thibodeau and Brian Scalabrine, the showdown between Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo, the personal beef between Kevin Garnett and Joakim Noah.
But forget all the individual stuff now. This is a battle between two great teams, and one of them will collect a whole lot of bragging rights later tonight.
Don't miss this one.
8 a.m.: Kevin Garnett claims that every game means the same to him and the Celtics this time of year, regardless of the opponent. Believe him at your own risk.
"We want all these games," he insisted Tuesday night, minutes after the C's had done away with the visiting 76ers 99-82 at the TD Garden. "All these games are important to us right now, not just against the Chicagos and the Miamis. The Washingtons, the Phillys, these are huge games for us. The playoffs are like the main course, but these are definitely a good appetizer."
KG claims that the effort is always there, but the results suggest otherwise. The Celtics are 8-8 in the last month, the very definition of mediocrity, and mediocrity's not good enough for a team that claims to be a title contender. The C's have a lot to prove, and if they want to prove it, they'll have to muster more energy.
Thursday night may be exactly what they need.
Three games back from the Bulls with five to play, the C's head to Chicago for a head-to-head meeting with the East leaders. Both their seasons hang in the balance. Playoff seeds — No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 — are all still up for grabs. So is pride.
"There's a lot on the line for our seasons," Paul Pierce said. "Some guys have been in a lot of big games, but a lot of guys haven't. It puts you in these moments where you can say this is the type of atmosphere we'll be in every night once the playoffs start. You don't have a lot of games like that on the schedule, but Chicago is one of them."
As regular-season contests go, this is the game of the year. The Celtics and Bulls tip off at the United Center at 8 p.m.
