Matas Buzelis scored 18 of his 29 points in the third quarter and Josh Giddey contributed 16 points, 15 rebounds and 13 assists to boost the host Chicago Bulls to a 132-107 victory against the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday.
Memphis lost for a season-high eighth straight time. Cedric Coward led the Grizzlies with 17 points.
Giddey has a triple-double in five of the seven games in which he has played in March. Tre Jones (17 points), Rob Dillingham (15), Jalen Smith (13), Guerschon Yabusele (13) and Leonard Miller (10) also scored in double figures for Chicago.
Sparked by Buzelis’ hot hand, Chicago opened the third quarter on a 21-4 run to seize control. Buzelis had 13 points during the spurt, including three makes from beyond the arc.
A Rayan Rupert trey with 6:10 remaining in the quarter stopped a Grizzlies scoring drought of 4:25.
Chicago surged ahead by 21 points in the third, but the Grizzlies rallied within six in the closing stages. Memphis whittled the deficit to eight points early in the fourth before the Bulls answered again, pushing the advantage to 26.
Taylor Hendricks and Jaylen Wells scored 16 points apiece for the Grizzlies. Olivier-Maxence Prosper added 13 points while Walter Clayton Jr. and Cam Spencer each had 12. Tyler Burton grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
Memphis led by as many as four points and Chicago by as many as seven during a back-and-forth first half in which the teams traded the advantage 22 times.
Chicago took a 61-57 lead into the break.
Coward led all scorers with 14 first-half points while Smith (11), Yabusele (11) and Giddey (10) sparked a balanced attack for the Bulls. Giddey, who on Friday surpassed Michael Jordan for 19th on the NBA’s all-time list for triple-doubles, added eight rebounds and eight assists in the first half.
Grizzlies reserve forward Taj Gibson, who played 562 games with the Bulls over his first eight NBA seasons, received an ovation upon entering the game in the first quarter. Gibson, at 40 years old the second-oldest active player in the NBA, had two points and two rebounds in eight minutes.
Four of Memphis’ losses during its current skid have come by double digits.
