John Wall hit a jumper with :05.9 seconds left to lift the Washington Wizards to a 101-99 victory over the short handed Chicago Bulls. The Bulls went into the game without there top two scorers and one of their top bench players. Jimmy Butler and Nikola Mirotic both missed the game because of an illness and Dwayne Wade sat out because this was the second game of a back to back. The win was the Wizards 3rd in a row and got them over the .500 mark at 19-18. The loss drops the Bulls a game under .500 at 19-20.
Chicago went out to a quick five point lead at 10-5, but Washington went on a 14-2 run to take the lead at 19-12. The Bulls really dominated the rest of the quarter as they scored 24 more points in the quarter while holding the Wizards to just 7 more points. The Bulls took a 10 point lead 36-26 after one quarter.
The Bulls scored the first eight points of the 2nd quarter and where out to a 18 point lead at 44-26. The best the Wizards could do in the quarter was cut the Bulls lead to 10 points; which they did twice. The Bulls pushed the lead back to 16 points, but the Wizards scored the last four points of the quarter to cut the Bulls lead to 12 at 61-49 headed into halftime.
The Wizards started to get back into the game and cut the Bulls lead to five points at 65-60, but the Bulls where able to rebuild the lead to double digits at 71-60. It was the Wizards turn to make a run again and this time they came all the way back. The Wizards went on a 17-4 run that game them a 77-75 lead with 1:40 left in the quarter. After the teams traded buckets Marcin Gortat put back a missed shot to give the Wizards a 81-77 lead after three quarters.
It was a tight 4th quarter as the teams traded the lead three times. The biggest lead the Wizards could build was a five point lead early in the quarter. The Bulls did build a seven point lead at 92-85 with 7:27 left in the game after Denzel Valentine hit a 3-pointer. Washington then scored the next 10 points in the game to take a three point lead 95-92. The game was tied three more times in the final 2:08 minutes of the game. It was 99 all with :05 seconds left when John Wall hit a jump shot to give the Wizards a 101-99 win.
All the Wizards starters scored in double figures; led by John Wall who had a game high 26 points. Wall also handed out a game high 14 assists. Bradley Beal and Markieff Morris each had 19 points. Otto Porter Jr. had 11 points while Marcin Gortat scored 10 points and tied for the game high in rebounds with 12.
Denzel Valentine came off the Bulls bench to lead them in scoring with 19 points. Michael Carter-Williams and Robin Lopez each scored 14 points. Bobby Portis had 13 points off the bench while Rajon Rondo came off the Bulls bench for his first game action for the first time since December 30th and scored 12 points. Taj Gibson had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Rondo and Jerian Grant tied for the team lead in assists with 6.
This game was the first of a back to back for the Wizards as they have to travel to Boston to put there three game winning streak on the line against the 25-15 Celtics. This was the Bulls second loss in a row. Chicago will get a day off before they play there third game in four days as the stay on the road to play the 17-21 New York Knicks on Thursday night.
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