Chicago Bulls rout Washington Wizards 98-70 to grab the No.1 spot in the Eastern Conference
Derrick Rose led from the front as Chicago Bulls routed the Washington Wizards 98-79 and notched up the number one spot in the Eastern Conference. The game took place on Tuesday night at the United Centre. Rose drained 23 points,
dished out seven assists while grabbing four rebounds and two steals.
Barring the first three minutes of play in which the Wizards took a 6-2 lead, the Bulls never allowed the Wizards to take the lead. The Bulls made inroads into the Washington defence early with an 18-5 run and were leading by 22-11
seven and half minutes inside the first quarter. The Bulls led the first quarter by 31-19. Rose was the major contributor for the Bulls with 11 points including one three pointer.
After falling behind by 17 points in the first two minutes of the second section, the Wizards fought back as they gathered their defence as well as their attack and ended up one point behind the Bulls 47-46 at the end of the second
section. Jordan Crawford led the Wizards attack with 15 points including three missiles from the long range.
After having a setback in the second period, the Bulls slowly built the lead in the third segment. The Wizards on the contrary, failed to maintain their previous momentum and allowed one too many uncontested shot to the Bulls.
In addition to that, their offense could not get the better of a shored up Bulls defence as they got reduced to just 14 points in the third segment. Luol Deng added eight points for the Bulls in the third quarter, which finished at 75-60.
Staring at a 15 point deficit, the Wizards came down hard in the fourth and nailed four points inside the first minute to slash the deficit to 11 points. But, the Bulls had other plans as they began another assault on the Wizards
by scoring the next eight points quickly to stretch their advantage to 83-64. This gush by the Bulls dented the spirit of the Wizards pretty badly and they never came back in the game. The Bulls end up winning the game by 19 points.
Later, the Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau on the Bulls moving into first place in the Eastern Conference.
With this victory the Bulls have won 12 games in a row at home and 14 out of their last 16 encounters. "We want to play as well as we can, get the best record that we can and have the highest seed possible. If we are preparing
the way we are supposed to and doing the right thing, the results will take care of themselves."
Keith Bogans of the Bulls has often been criticized for not scoring adequate points this season, but in this game he made five for ten from the three point range to make his season high 17 points. "It doesn't frustrate me at all," said Bogans post game. "[As
long as] I'm being talked about."
The Bulls made some changes for the game. Kurt Thomas replaced the injured Carlos Boozer while Taj Gibson came in for Joakim Noah. Thomas grabbed 15 rebounds and Gibson had 13.
The Wizards have lost fifth game in a row and are overall 1-30 on the road. Rookie Jordan Crawford guided the Wizards with 27 points. The Wizards centre JaVale McGee made a triple-double by scoring 11 points and 12 rebounds. He
also blocked 12 shots to reach his career high.
After the game McGee said, "I had three [blocks] the first quarter and I was trying to match that in the second quarter and I had seven, so I was like I'm going to try and get 14. It was working for me tonight. I was blocking so
good in the first half people were starting to hesitate and were more afraid to go up and it was easier to block shots."
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