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                <p>CHICAGO (Reuters) – The Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics 97-81 on Thursday to open a four-game lead at the top of the Eastern Conference and move to within one victory of clinching home-court advantage throughout the NBA playoffs.</p>
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Chicago (58-20), winners of 17 of their last 19 games, closed out the third quarter with an 11-4 run to pull away from the Celtics (54-24).</p>
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"This meant a lot because you're going against a team you could see in the playoffs," Bulls guard Derrick Rose told reporters after scoring a game-high 30 points.</p>
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"You don't want those teams to have confidence. We were aggressive. That's the way it's going to be. We're a tough team. We grind wins out."</p>
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The Bulls allowed the Celtics just four field goals in the fourth quarter and, with just four games remaining, Chicago look like genuine title contenders.</p>
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"I just thought they were far more physical, tougher, more prepared, which is on me," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers. "I thought Thibs (Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau) did a better job.</p>
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"I thought (Carlos) Boozer did a better job, I thought Derrick Rose did a better job. I just thought overall they just competed far better than us tonight."</p>
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MVP candidate Rose added eight assists for the Bulls and Luol Deng scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half.</p>
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The Celtics were led by Paul Pierce with 15 points while Kevin Garnett scored 10 and Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen were limited to seven each.</p>
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(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario; Editing by Alastair Himmer)</p>
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