Bulls 98, Wizards 79
Derrick Rose scored 23 points and the surging Chicago Bulls pulled away in the second half for their seventh consecutive victory, a 98-79 romp over the visiting Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.
Luol Deng added 20 points and Keith Bogans 17 for the Bulls (48-18), who took a half-game lead over the Boston Celtics for the top seed in the Eastern Conference despite playing without injured big men Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer.
Rookie Jordan Crawford scored a season-high 27 points but it wasn't enough to prevent the shorthanded Wizards (16-50) from dropping their fifth straight game and falling to 1-30 on the road.
Washington center JaVale McGee had 11 points, 12 rebounds and 12 blocks, becoming the first player to record a triple-double with blocks since Orlando's Dwight Howard on Nov. 12, 2008. The Wizards gave McGee the ball repeatedly in the closing minutes, and when he reached double figures on a dunk with 18 seconds left, he was given a technical foul for hanging on the rim.
Washington was without leading scorer Nick Young as well as forwards Andray Blatche, Rashard Lewis and Josh Howard. But the Wizards were within five points until Deng, Taj Gibson and Bogans sparked an 18-5 run to build the lead to 73-55 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.
Kurt Thomas (15 rebounds) and Gibson (13) helped the Bulls control the backboards, 51-42.