Chicago Bulls beat 76ers

04-11-2009 | AFP

With a 113-99 victory over Philadelphia the team closes in on NBA playoff berth

Panama Star CHICAGO. Ben Gordon and Tyrus Thomas have both scored 24 points apiece to lead Chicago to a 113-99 victory over Philadelphia that saw the Bulls close in on a postseason berth.

The Bulls are seventh in the Eastern Conference, one-half game ahead of Detroit.

Charlotte, currently ninth and still nursing hopes of seizing the eighth and final spot, visit Chicago on Saturday.

Thomas set a season-high for points and made a career-best 14 of 14 free throws.

He scored 10 points in the third quarter and Gordon added seven as the Bulls turned a halftime tie into an 82-72 lead en route to the victory.

Philaphia, their playoff berth already secured, suffered their third straight defeat.

The Bulls did get some bad news as manager John Paxson said before the game that forward Luol Deng will probably miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his right tibia. Paxson said that the team hopes to avoid surgery and will use "total caution" with Britain's Deng.