The Chicago Bulls (48-18) moved into first place in the Eastern Conference by themselves with a 98-79 win over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday at the United Center. After falling behind by 17 points early in the second quarter, the Wizards (16-50) battled back to within one point just before the end of the first half. The Bulls then slowly built the lead through the second half. Derrick Rose led the Bulls with 23 points, while Kurt Thomas had 15 rebounds playing in place of injured forward Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson had 13 rebounds playing in place of Joakim Noah, who was out with the flu. Rookie Jordan Crawford led the Wizards with 27 points.
Meanwhile, the Pacers are going through a difficult patch but they still took down the Knicks of Melo, Stoudamire and co twice in just a few days. This time,