The Washington Wizards visit the Chicago Bulls, in their final game of a tripleback(3 games in 3 days). Derrick Rose sat the game with an aggravated turf toe. Backup CJ Watson is still recovering from an elbow strain, making way for John Lucas III to get his first NBA start in his four year career. A tough start for little Johnny, as he faces the only point guard in the NBA that can hold a candle to Derrick’s speed and athleticism in John Wall.
The Wizards have been an underperforming team this season, losing eight games to start the season and finally winning one last night. They lead the NBA in blocks(7.9), behind last season’s Slam Dunk finalist, JaVale McGee, who currently leads the league with 3.0 per game. McGee finished with 5 blocks.
The Bulls started off weak, but luckily so did the Wizards. Both teams had a hard time with execution, committing a lot of unforced turnovers. This game was pretty stagnant in the first quarter, but it started to open up in the second, behind some streaky shooting from John Lucas.
Make-up calls made up the bulk of the whistles. This left a lot of players frustrated, and led to a significant increase in petty protesting. The final official score only shows 4 technical fouls for the game, but Wizards Coach, Flip Saunders did give the Bulls one point off a non-call complaint in the first half.
Washington managed to tie the game up in the 3rd quarter behind a Jordan Crawford hot streak. Luckily for the Bulls, the offensive rebounds started to pile on. The only Bull that managed to find offense late, was Kyle Korver, truly saving the Bulls from an embarrassing, but perhaps an excusable, loss. John Lucas III, despite taking 28 shots, also managed to hold the floor in the second half. The Bulls win this low scoring battle, 78-64
In all fairness, Lucas had an excellent game. He did take 28 shots, but he managed to lead all score with 25 points, and was shy of a TD adding 8 dimes and 8 boards in 45 minutes of play. Unfortunately for the Bulls, Lucas did hurt himself late in the game. The specifics of his injury is unknown.
Both Noah and Boozer continue to be ice cold on both ends of the court. Both scored 4 points. Deng and Asik picked up the rebounding, grabbing 15, and 14 rebounds to make the biggest difference in this game’s outcome. The Bulls out-rebounded the Wizards; 62-46.
Earlier today, the Bulls signed veteran guard, Mike Jones. He made his debut with 40 seconds left, wearing jersey number 14.
The Bulls defeat the Washington Wizards 78-64 to move to 10-2 for the year.
Next Game: Friday at the Boston Celtics. Tip-off at 7:00PM CST
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