Belinelli lifts Bulls to over-time win over Celtics

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AFP) –

Marco Belinelli (R bottom) is swamped by his Chicago Bulls teammates after his turnaround jump shot with 3.1 seconds left in overtime lifted the Bulls to a 100-99 National Basketball Association win over the Boston Celtics on January 18, 2013. Chicago own the Eastern Conference’s best road record of 12-5.

Marco Belinelli’s turnaround jump shot with 3.1 seconds left in overtime lifted the Chicago Bulls to a 100-99 National Basketball Association win over the Boston Celtics.

Richard Hamilton scored 20 points and Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah both notched double-doubles for a Bulls team that claimed a third-straight win and their fifth successive win on the road.

Chicago own the Eastern Conference’s best road record of 12-5.

Boozer scored 19 points and grabbed a season-high 20 rebounds, while Noah finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Boston’s Rajon Rondo scored a season-best 30 points and handed out seven assists. He led the Celtics back from an eight-point deficit early in the fourth quarter but fouled out with 1:16 remaining in over-time.

Kevin Garnett scored 16 points and Jared Sullinger posted 15 rebounds for the Celtics, whose season-high six-game winning streak has now been followed by two straight defeats.

Trailing 70-62 in the early stages of the fourth quarter, Boston engineered a 12-4 scoring run that included six points from Garnett to knot the score at 74-74 with seven minutes to play in regulation.

Rondo made one of two free throws to give the Celtics their first lead of the game with 4:37 left, and the game stayed close until the end of regulation.

A Rondo jump shot with 36.6 seconds left in the fourth snapped an 84-84 tie. Boston maintained a two-point lead until the Bulls’ Kirk Hinrich drained a jump shot with two seconds remaining to force over-time, in which neither team led by more than three points.

Chicago gained the win despite a disappointing night for leading scorer Luol Deng, who was held to a season-low three points on 1-of-6 shooting while playing just 27 minutes because of a strained hamstring.