CHICAGO -- Even a shortage of big men couldnt slow the Bulls march to the top of the Eastern Conference. Los Angeles Kings Shop . Derrick Rose scored 23 points in Chicagos seventh straight win, a 98-79 victory over the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night that moved the Bulls into sole possession of first place in the East. Luol Deng added 20 points and Keith Bogans scored 17, his highest total since joining the Bulls. Bogans took all of his 10 shots from behind the three-point arc, hitting a season-high five. "Weve got a great team," said Bogans. "The guys know when a player goes down, somebody else has to step up." Bogans has been the target of criticism, mostly because his scoring average (4.1) is low for a starting shooting guard. While Tuesdays game might quiet some of that commentary, Bogans says it doesnt matter. "It doesnt frustrate me at all," said Bogans. "(As long as) Im being talked about." The Bulls (48-18) moved a half-game ahead of the Boston Celtics. Chicago has not held the Easts top spot this late in the season since 1997-98, the season the Bulls won their sixth NBA championship. "Whats happening right now is everyone is talking about us," Deng said. "Human nature is that its easy for us to fall into that trap of thinking were going to walk out there and win. Thats not the case. We have a lot of work to do." If two teams finish tied, the first tiebreaker is based on head-to-head results. The Celtics have won two of three against Chicago this season, but the teams play once more, at the United Center on April 7. Washington centre JaVale McGee had a rare triple-double with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 12 blocks, the most by an NBA player since Torontos Keon Clark had 12 on March 23, 2001. "I had three (blocks) the first quarter and I was trying to match that in the second quarter and I had seven, so I was like Im going to try and get 14," McGee said. "It was working for me tonight. I was blocking so good in the first half people were starting to hesitate and were more afraid to go up and it was easier to block shots." The Bulls jumped to a 31-19 lead in the first quarter with little resistance from the Wizards, who fell to 1-30 on the road. Chicago outrebounded Washington 17-5 in the opening period despite the absences of centre Joakim Noah and power forward Carlos Boozer. Rookie Jordan Crawford scored 27 points and played all 48 minutes for the Wizards, who have lost five straight and 12 of 13. "In the NBA it can be a 360, and the next day you never know what can happen," said Crawford, who was recently traded to Washington from Atlanta, where he wasnt getting much court time. "Luckily I was ready. I want to feed off this game and keep going." McGee fell just short of the franchise record for blocks in a game. Manute Bol swatted 15 shots for the then-Bullets on Feb. 26, 1987. It was the most blocks a player has had against Chicago in a regulation game. "Wed like to see (McGee) do that more," said Washington coach Flip Saunders. "Concentrate more defensively and protect the rim." McGee achieved his triple-double with a dunk 18 seconds to play, after which he received a technical foul for hanging on the rim. "That was the hardest one point I ever tried to make in my life," McGee said. "It was crazy, but I got it. It was a dunk of relief." Crawford heated up in the second quarter against the Bulls reserves, scoring 15 points in the period on 5-for-6 shooting and hit a jumper from the right wing that brought Washington within 47-46 with 1.1 seconds left in the half. "Our second quarter was very poor," said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. "Our floor balance was bad." Kurt Thomas sank a three-pointer at the buzzer, putting the Bulls up 50-46 at the break. It was Thomas first three-pointer since April 10, 2005. The Bulls pulled away with a 25-14 third period, highlighted by Dengs 10 points. Bogans three-pointer with 2:56 left put Chicago up 71-55, its biggest advantage to that point. The Bulls have won 10 of their last 11 games and improved to 30-4 at home. Only San Antonio (31-3) had done better on their home floor. "We feed off the fans," Rose said. "If it wasnt for them, we wouldnt be playing the way were playing. The energy in the arena is crazy." Chicago played its third straight game without Boozer, who sprained his left ankle in a win over Charlotte on March 9. Boozer, who didnt dress for the game, was seen limping toward the Bulls locker room before the game. A timetable for his return has not yet been established. Noah missed the game because of flu-like symptoms. Noah was sent home from the teams shootaround on Tuesday morning after reporting that he wasnt feeling well. The illness isnt believed to be serious. "Were playing hard," Rose said. "All the people that came in filled those spots. Thats what its all about." The Wizards suited up just nine players, six of which were rookies. It could have been worse as John Walls availability was in question before warm-ups. Wall had some soreness in his foot, which was stepped on during Washingtons loss to Oklahoma City on Monday. Rashard Lewis (knee), Cartier Martin (knee), Josh Howard (knee), Andray Blatche (shoulder) and Nick Young (flu) were all unavailable. "We started three rookies," Saunders said. "We had a lot of opportunities to fold, especially the weve played the last week or so. I thought our guys played hard. We just ran out of gas." Notes: Only one team has gone 1-40 on the road since the NBA went to an 82-game schedule in 1967-68: the Sacramento Kings in 1990-91. ... Legendary soul singer Aretha Franklin sat courtside for the game. She received a standing ovation from the crowd at the United Center after her image was flashed on the scoreboard while her famous song "Respect" was playing over the arenas sound system. Adam Dunn Jersey . With the score at 2-2 in the 65th minute, Abdulkader Keitas pass found Mathieu Bodmer and he flicked the ball into Govous path, giving the France winger ample time to shoot under goalkeeper Mickael Landreaus body. Darrelle Revis Jersey . The Knicks will announce the hiring of Walsh as their new president at a news conference, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press. Ray Lewis Jersey . Over six games last week, Werth led the NL with a 1.160 slugging percentage and five home runs and tied for the NL lead in RBI with nine. He batted .440, scored seven times and had a . Paul Posluszny Jersey . Hirscher won Saturdays final giant slalom of the season to take the discipline title and go top of the overall standings. Hirscher holds a 25-point lead over speed specialist Beat Feuz of Switzerland, who announced he wont start in Sundays slalom, the final race of the season. Mike Richards Stanley Cup Final Jersey .C. -- Steven Stamkos has been the Tampa Bay Lightnings go-to guy all season long.NEWARK, N.J. -- If the New Jersey Devils dont make the playoffs, they might blame it on a couple of hot goaltenders. A night after Curtis McElhinney shut them down in Ottawa with a 33-save performance, Washington Capitals rookie Michal Neuvirth put another dagger in the Devils playoff hopes by matching the save total in recording his fourth shutout with a 3-0 win on Friday night. "When you dont have a lot of offence, you have to do it other ways," said Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin, who set up Mike Knubles two goals with laser passes. "Mike was solid in net. He was once young and new and didnt know how he would act. Not anymore." Neuvirth was the difference in the game New Jersey outshot the Capitals 33-12. He stopped Ilya Kovalchuk with three great glove saves, the last on a breakaway with 2:57 to go that had the Russian slamming his stick into the end boards. "His confidence is everything," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I could tell early on that it was going to be tough to get anything by him. He made back-to-back-to-back saves in the second period and that was enough for me." The only goal that Neuvirth needed was the game winner by defenceman Jeff Schultz, who scored early in the first period to break an 81-game goal drought. Knuble got the other two as the Capitals bounced back from a loss to Detroit and won for the 13th time in 16 games. The win gave the Capitals 94 points, tying them for first place in the Eastern Conference with idle Philadelphia. The Flyers have three games in hand and one more win. The loss was the second in as many nights for New Jersey and left it six points behind idle Buffalo in the race for the eighth and final playoff berth in the East with 11 games to play. "We knew it was not going to be easy," Devils goalie Martin Brodeur said. "This is the adversity we are facing right now and we need to get back on track. We have to do it quickly because we dont have much time left. Its back-to-back loses and puts a damper on things. We have to regroup. Nobody else is going to help us, so we have to do it ourselves." It marked the first time since Jan. 6-8 that New Jersey has lost consecutive games. The Devils are 23-5-2 in their last 30. Neuvirth, who will turn 23 on Wednesday, was spectacular in the first period when New Jersey got 12 of the 14 shots and still left trailing 1-0. Wayne Gretzky Kings Jersey. The Czech stopped Brian Rolston from between the circles in the opening minute, and made stops in close on Dainius Zubrus, defenceman Anton Volchenkov and rookie Nick Palmieri before the period ended. "Hes making saves left and right and if hes doing that, we know we have a chance," Knuble said. "He took a loss the other day in Detroit and he came back today and held us together." Schultz got his first goal of the season and first since Feb. 11, 2010, when he took a pass from Knuble and fired a shot past Brodeur at 6:10 of the opening period. Knuble extended the lead to 2-0 at 15:58 of the second period with a tic-tac-toe goal. After Washington kept the puck in the Devils zone, Ovechkin sent a cross-ice pass from the left boards to defenceman John Carlson streaking in from the right point alone at Brodeur. Instead of shooting, Carlson centred the puck and Knuble deflected it into an open net for his 18th of the season. The Devils had two chances to get back in the game right after that. Kovalchuk swooped into the crease after a rush and his shot hit off the right goal post. New Jersey got a four-minute power play right after that when Matt Hendricks clipped Rod Pelley near the face. The Devils managed two shots and were booed leaving the ice. Knuble iced the game midway through the third period. Ovechkin sent another cross-ice pass from the left boards to the right circle that Knuble ripped into an open net. NOTES: The Devils wore their throwback uniforms, the green pants and red and white shirts that brought back memories of Christmas past. Capitals C Nicklas Backstrom, who missed five games with a fractured thumb, returned to the lineup. ...The Devils and Caps made a deal just before the trading deadline with New Jersey sending Jason Arnott to Washington for David Steckel. Arnott missed the game his third straight game with an undisclosed injury and Steckel was scratched just before the faceoff with an upper body injury. ...The Capitals lead the season series 3-1. ...The game was a sellout with 17,625 fans. ...Washington is 2-1 on its current six-game road trip with the next stop in Philadelphia on Tuesday. ' ' '