The Celtics went all-in in their attempt to reach the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals.

Following a heartbreaking defeat to the Orlando Magic last week, the Boston Celtics’ hopes in the NBA’s first In-Season Tournament relied on a convincing victory against the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night — their last game of the tournament’s group round. What is the goal? A victory of at least 23 points would put them in position to win their group, if the Brooklyn Nets win their game against the Toronto Raptors. The Celtics accomplished just that, defeating the Bulls by a score of 27 points and leaving their tournament destiny in the hands of the Nets.

Jaylen Brown led the team in scoring for the evening, scoring 30 points on 12-of-23 shooting from the field. Jayson Tatum scored 21 points, while the Celtics’ backups — possibly driven by the $500,000 tournament prize — delivered a lively 29 points collectively. DeMar DeRozan and Coby White each scored 29 points for Chicago, while Zach LaVine struggled to only two points on 1-of-9 shooting.

Early on, the speed suited the Celtics – a lively, fast-paced game that provided plenty of chances for Boston to run in transition, move the ball, and produce open threes. An early standoff gave way to a seemingly easy 17-3 Boston blitz, and the Celtics burned the nets in the first quarter, hitting 8-of-16 from long. They lead the Bulls 31-20 at the half, powered by Brown’s nine points.

As the second quarter began, the Celtics were aided by a balanced offensive onslaught. They got off to a solid start, with chippy performances from Al Horford, Payton Pritchard, Luke Kornet, and Dalano Banton indicating they’d want to be playing in Las Vegas next week. With little over three minutes left in the half, Horford’s second three-pointer of the day extended the margin to 20 points, bringing them closer to the all-important +23 point difference. Their second straight 30-point quarter kept them on track, and they led Chicago by 19 points at halftime, 69-50.

The Bulls were given an injury scare early in the third quarter when DeRozan stepped on Holiday’s foot on a drive to the basket and seemed to twist his ankle. DeRozan returned to the game after the injury, but seemed to be struggling on subsequent plays, hobbling even after drawing a foul on White and hitting on a pair of free throws.

Even with DeRozan still on the field, Chicago did not appear like a club from the same area code as Boston tonight. The Celtics extended their advantage, hitting the magical 23-point mark and getting closer to 30 as the quarter progressed. Brown led the way, overcoming a recent string of underwhelming outings to lead the Boston offense for the evening. He equaled his highest scoring effort in the previous seven games through three quarters, with 26 points, and the Celtics led by 29 points entering the fourth quarter, 97-68.

Despite the huge advantage, Joe Mazzulla decided to keep the starters in the game for the fourth quarter with the IST result still in doubt. With a three by Banton, the Celtics reached 100 points, but the drama came from the Celtics’ advantage, which had shrunk to 25 points after a few early Chicago goals. To be sure, it was a one-of-a-kind show for a November bash.

It was just going to become stranger as time passed. Mazzulla chose to begin purposely fouling Bulls center Andre Drummond with just under eight minutes left in regulation, putting the career 48% free throw shooter on the line in an attempt to improve their IST position. The gamble paid off: Drummond made only 1-of-6 from the free throw line, and the Celtics extended their advantage back to 30 points as the game came to a close. They were unable to connect enough stops to move any farther, leaving the final tally.

The Celtics will face the Philadelphia 76ers in their third meeting of the new NBA season on Friday at 7:30 PM EST on ESPN.