Celtics avoid 3-0 hole vs. Bulls

CHICAGO - Al Horford had 18 points and eight rebounds, Isaiah Thomas scored 16 points, and the top-seeded Boston Celtics beat the Chicago Bulls 104-87 on Friday night after dropping the first two games of their opening-round series at home.

The Celtics pulled away after a 20point lead shrunk to one early in the third quarter and put themselves in position to tie a series that was in danger of slipping away from them. Game 4 is Sunday in Chicago.

Dwyane Wade scored 18 for Chicago. Jimmy Butler had 14 points on 7-of-21 shooting, and the offense simply didn’t click the way it had been, with Rajon Rondo out indefinitely with a broken right thumb. Chicago shot about 39 percent and committed 18 turnovers.

At Thunder 115, Rockets 113: Russell Westbrook scored 32 points in a tripledouble, and Oklahoma City held off Houston to cut their deficit to 2-1 in the first-round Western Conference playoff series.

James Harden scored 44 points for Houston, but he missed a 3-pointer that could have won the game.

Westbrook also had 13 rebounds and 11 assists.

Clippers 111, at Jazz 106: Chris Paul scored 34 points and Los Angeles rallied for a victory over Utah to take a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.

The Jazz led most of the game before Paul took over in the fourth quarter and powered a 15-0 run that gave the Clippers a 103-96 lead with 2:09 remaining. Utah never led again.

The win negated a spectacular night from Gordon Hayward, who scored a career-high 40 points.

Late Thursday

At Grizzlies 105, Spurs 94: Mike Conley scored 24 points and handed out eight assists as Memphis snapped a 10game postseason skid against San Antonio by routing the Spurs.

— Wire services