Jayson Tatum scored 32 points and Jaylen Brown added 19 as the Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls 107-99 Monday night and reached the midway point of their season with the NBA's best record.
Grant Williams added 20 points and Al Horford had seven rebounds and eight points, including a clutch 3-pointer with 24 seconds to play that helped seal the win for the defending Eastern Conference champions, who are 29-12 after the first 41 games.
Chicago also lost star forward DeMar DeRozan to an injury in the third quarter, yet managed to trim Boston's 16-point lead to two points with two minutes left to play.
Malcolm Brogdon scored 20 points for Boston, which played without injured point guard Marcus Smart.
Zach LaVine led Chicago with 27 points, scoring 15 in the fourth quarter while leading the Bulls' furious comeback bid.
Chicago, which had won three straight, lost DeRozan in the third quarter with a strained right quadriceps. Nikola Vucevic had 21 points and 13 rebounds for Chicago. DeRozan finished with 13 points in 23 minutes.
A 3-pointer by LaVine pulled Chicago within 99-97 late in the fourth, but the comeback stalled when he missed a jumper in the final minute and the Celtics got the rebound to Tatum, who dribbled about 20 seconds off the clock before getting the ball to Horford for a 3-pointer. Horford's shot bounced off the rim, then found its way through for a 104-99 lead with 24 seconds left.
LaVine missed again for the Bulls and Tatum broke free for a two-handed dunk, drawing a foul and converting the free throw to seal it with 12 seconds remaining.
Down 11 points entering the fourth quarter, a layup by LaVine pulled Chicago within 89-84. But the Celtics answered the surge with Brown's back-to-back jumpers and a three-point play by Williams.
The Celtics led 59-50 at halftime, matching their largest lead of the game after the Bulls committed three of their six turnovers in the final few minutes and the Celtics capitalized with a 9-2 run to close the period.
The Bulls visit Washington on Wednesday night.
