BOSTON—The Bulls let a 20-point lead drop to one before Derrick Rose decided to take control, sore toe and all.The NBA’s reigning MVP knew he had to make the shot after Paul Pierce missed a jumper that would have given the Boston Celtics their first lead.He made the layup, the Celtics missed their next shot, and Rose followed with two free throws. Suddenly, the Bulls led 71-66 with 8:30 remaining and stayed in front by at least five points the rest of the way.Rose had missed Wednesday’s 78-64 win over the Washington Wizards with a sprained left big toe. But he wasn’t fully recovered when he scored 25 points to lead the Bulls to their 10th win in 11 games and an NBA-best 11-2 record.He said he was tentative at first to see how his toe felt but became comfortable midway through the first period.Rose had 12 points after the lead fell to one. Luol Deng had 21 points and 16 rebounds and played outstanding defense on Pierce, who missed nine of 12 shots. Carlos Boozer and Ronnie Brewer scored 12 each and Joakim Noah added 10 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.Ray Allen scored 16 for Boston and Rajon Rondo had 14 points and 11 assists. Boston lost its third straight game, all at home, and fell to 4-6.The Bulls led 52-33 at halftime and 61-41 on Deng’s jumper from the top of the key with 7:20 left in the third quarter.The Celtics finally came to life, outscoring the Bulls 18-6 to close the gap to 67-59 after three quarters. It was 67-53 with two minutes left before Jermaine O’Neal and Rondo scored on layups and O’Neal made a slam dunk on a feed from Allen.The Celtics kept rolling by scoring the first seven points of the fourth quarter on Garnett’s short turnaround, Allen’s 12-foot bank shot and a 3-pointer by Mickael Pietrus that made it 67-66 and capped a 13-0 run spanning the third and fourth quarters.After Pierce missed his shot and Rose scored four straight points, Kevin Garnett responded with a short jumper, but Rose came through again with a 3-pointer for a 74-68 lead with 7:30 remaining.Boston still had a chance at 80-71, but Brewer and Rose fit one field goal each, building the lead to 84-73 with 2:10 to play.The Bulls dominated early and led by their biggest margin of the first half, 19 points, at intermission. They outshot the Celtics 54.1 percent to 33.3 and outrebounded them 31-15.

 NOTES—Boston backup G Keyon Doolingmissed the game with a right knee injury and was expected to sit out Saturday night’s game at Indiana….With 8:38 left in the second period, the Bulls led 30-13 and had made 13 of 24 shots while Boston made five of 26…..Deng had a double-double at halftime with 12 points and 10 rebounds…..The Bulls host Toronto Saturday night at the United Center.