Celtics beat injury-riddled Bulls 124-105 as Vucevic scores 19 against his former team

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BOSTON (AP) — Payton Pritchard scored 26 points and the Boston Celtics rolled past the Chicago Bulls 124-105 on Wednesday night in the final game for both teams before the All-Star break.

Jaylen Brown added 24 points. Nikola Vucevic finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Celtics, who have won six of their last seven games.

The Celtics carried a 28-point into halftime, taking advantage of a Chicagos team that was missing several top contributors. Boston’s lead rose as high as 33 in the second half.

Rob Dillingham had 16 points and seven assists to pace Chicago, which has lost six straight. Matas Buzelis added 15 points and eight rebounds.

Vucevic and Chicago’s Anfernee Simons played against their former teams for the first time since being swapped in a trade deadline deal last week.

It was Vucevic’s second double-double in three games with the Celtics. Simons finished with seven points. It marked his first time being under 15 in his four consecutive starts for the Bulls.

The Bulls played without Isaac Okoro (knee), who joined what was already a lengthy Bulls injury list. Josh Giddey has been out since Jan. 28 when he aggravated a hamstring injury in a Jan. 28 loss to Indiana. Tre Jones also has been dealing with a hamstring issue that’s kept him sidelined since Jan. 22.

Bulls: Host Toronto on Thursday, Feb. 19

Celtics: At Golden State on Thursday, Feb. 19

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