Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade lead Bulls to rout of 76ers

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — After a long, six-game road trip, the Chicago Bulls are heading home with a winning record and an infusion of confidence.

Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade had 26 points apiece to lead the Bulls to a 105-89 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.

Taj Gibson added 12 points for the Bulls, who finished a six-game road trip with a 4-2 record. Butler rested for the entire fourth quarter of the blowout.

"On this trip, the way we performed, we started to understand we're a good team and can play with anyone in any building," Wade said. "It was a very successful trip and we finished it off right."

Chicago led from start to finish against the short-handed 76ers, who played without center Joel Embiid.

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"I like the way we're playing," Butler said. "If we keep guarding, rebounding and doing what we're supposed to do, we're going to win a lot of games. Now we have to go home and win a couple more."

Ersan Ilyasova had 14 points to pace Philadelphia, which certainly could've used Embiid.

"You saw an NBA team that's good," Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said. "That's a good team, a really good team."

The Bulls ran away from the 76ers with a dominant third quarter in which they outscored Philadelphia 33-17 to enter the fourth quarter ahead 90-64.

"To come out with this type of effort was terrific," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. "We had good urgency out of the gate."

Butler had nine points in the period as Chicago did damage inside and outside. Wade's fastbreak dunk early in the period helped the Bulls match their largest lead to that point at 67-52. And the advantage was 20, 79-59, with 4:35 left in the period after a pretty sequence that featured a Wade layup from Rajon Rondo followed by a Butler layup from Wade. Chicago ended the quarter with consecutive 3-pointers from Denzel Valentine and Nikola Mirotic.

The lead was 28 points with just over seven minutes left in the game when Hoiberg emptied his bench.

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