Joakim Noah had his second career triple-double (11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists) and Nate Robinson hit five 3-pointers and had 18 points off the bench to lead the Bulls to a 100-89 win over the Celtics Tuesday night at the United Center in Chicago. Rajon Rondo had 26 points and eight assists to lead the Celtics, who were swept in their three-game road trip.
The loss dropped the Celtics back to .500 at 12-12 on the season. Kevin Garnett scored all 10 points in the first half but appeared to lose steam and was held scoreless in the second half. Paul Pierce had 16 points while Jeff Green had just three points off the bench, which was single-handedly outscored by Robinson, 18-16.
The Celtics closed the first half on a 7-2 run to close the Bulls lead to 55-48. Rondo took over in the third quarter, helping Boston close to within three, 70-67 on a layup. Rondo appeared to strain his left hamstring on another layup at the end of the third quarter. He was puling at back of his leg as he walked toward the bench but stayed in the game in the fourth quarter until being pulled with the rest of the starters with 5:32 left in the game.
The Bulls pulled away in the fourth quarter, growing their lead to as many as 21, 100-79, before Boston closed with a 10-0 run to provide window dressing on another ugly road performance.
The Celtics have no time to rest as they host the Cavaliers at TD Garden Wednesday night before a day off on Thursday. They host Milwaukee on Friday night. For more, visit the Celtics page at weei.com/celtics [1] and the Green Street [2] blog.
Links:
[1] http://www.weei.com/celtics
[2] http://www.greenstreet.weei.com
[3] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/celtics