The Chicago Bulls made the game a lot closer than it looked early on as they came back from double digits only to lose 112-107 to the Washington Wizards. It was the Bulls seventh loss in their last eight games. It was also the first game the Bulls played without Dwayne Wade. Wade is done for the regular season with a fractured right elbow.
Both teams took a little while to get going as they combined to miss the first seven shots in the game. Jimmy Butler broke the scoring drought with a lay up with 10:18 left in the quarter. The Bulls held the lead early in the quarter, but the Wizards came back and outscored the Bulls 29-23 in the quarter to take a six point lead into the 2nd quarter.
The Bulls had some offensive issues in the 2nd quarter as they managed to score just 17 points. The Wizards took double digit leads on four different occasions in the quarter only to have the Bulls manage to bring the score back under 10 points. The Bulls did manage to cut the Wizards lead to seven points on a few different occasions before Washington was able to pull away. Washington scored the last 10 points of the quarter to take a 19 point lead 59-40 at halftime.
Previously when the Bulls have had offensive troubles early in the game they’ve carried over through the rest of the game, but tonight was different. While Washington was able to hold onto their double digit lead through the 3rd quarter the Bulls did outscore the Wizards 32-25 in the quarter to knock the lead down to 12 points 84-72 heading into the final quarter.
The Bulls had another good offensive quarter in the 4th putting up 35 points to the Wizards 28 points. While it took the Bulls the majority of the quarter when Nikola Mirotic hit a 3-pointer with 1:23 left in the game the Bulls found themselves down just two points 104-102. Washington pushed the lead back to four points, but then Jimmy Butler hit a 3-pointer with :39 seconds left and the Bulls where down just one point at 108-107. That was as close as the Bulls could get as the Wizards went four for four on their free throws down the stretch to get a 112-107 win.
Bradley Beal was the Wizards leading scorer with 24 points. Jason Smith scored 17 points while John Wall and Otto Porter Jr. each had 14 points. Wall also had a game high 20 assists. Ian Mahinmi (16 points) and Bojan Bogdanovic (12 points) also scored in double figures. Marcin Gortat and Porter Jr. tied for the team lead in rebounds with 8.
Jimmy Butler was the Bulls and the games high scorer with 28 points. Robin Lopez was the other Bulls starter to score in double figures with 25 points. Lopez also grabbed a game high 12 rebounds. Off the Bulls bench Nikola Mirotic had 15 points and Denzel Valentine add 11 points. Rajon Rondo was the Bulls team leader in assists handing out 11.
Washington improved to 42-26 with the win while the Bulls fell to 32-37 on the season. This was the first of back to back games for both teams. Washington will head to Charlotte to face the 29-39 Hornets on Saturday night while the Bulls head home to host the 43-26 Utah Jazz tomorrow night.
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