NBA: Chicago 79, Brooklyn 76

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CHICAGO, April 25 (UPI) -- Carlos Boozer helped stake Chicago to a big lead Thursday and the Bulls narrowly avoided a fourth-quarter collapse to edge Brooklyn 79-76.

Chicago took a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series and will try to expand on that advantage when it hosts Game 4 Sunday.

The Bulls led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter and Chicago still had a 15-point advantage after Marco Belinelli hit a layup with 5:47 to play.

Chicago managed only two more points the rest of the way, those coming when Nate Robinson and Joakim Noah hit one free throw each during the final 10 seconds.

Noah's free throw came with 4.4 seconds remaining and Chicago survived a missed 3-point attempt by C.J. Watson that would have forced overtime.

Brooklyn made just 34 percent of its field goal attempts, but eventually gave itself a chance to steal the game by holding the Bulls to 14 points in the final period.

Boozer scored 22 points and grabbed 16 rebounds. Luol Deng added 21 points and 10 boards for the Bulls.

Brook Lopez led the Nets with 22 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots. Deron Williams had 18 points for Brooklyn, but went 5-of-14 from the field.