Chicago Bulls at Washington Wizards Analysis: Bulls Suffer Wade-less Loss

The Chicago Bulls arrived in Washington on St. Patricks day to take on the Wizards for the front end of a back-to-back. This would be their first game without Dwyane Wade following his injury.

Must Read: Dwyane Wade to miss rest of regular season

1st Quarter

A number of Chicago players didn’t look up to the task early. Bobby Portis’ mistakes were tough to keep track of. He was struggling early in the contest.

Rajon Rondo couldn’t handle John Wall’s explosion as he blew past Rondo whenever he wanted and broke down the defense. Wall had eight assists in the first quarter. Nikola Mirotic and Paul Zipser struggled on both sides of the floor.

There were some bright spots. Robin Lopez and Jimmy Butler were the reasons the Bulls deficit wasn’t much larger. Butler’s first night without Wade led to a productive first quarter from him. He shot 3-of-5 and had eight points. Lopez, solid as a rock, was 6-of-7 for 13 points. One-Quarter through the Bulls were down, 29-23

2^nd Quarter

The second quarter didn’t bare a much better fate for the Bulls. Things got worse. The quarter opened with a Michael Carter-Williams turnover that led directly to a Kelly Oubre Jr. fast break dunk. Moments later Paul Zipser threw a ball into the stands that would make a quarterback blush.

There was a sequence where Rondo and Butler were both out and MCW was initiating the offense. That didn’t work either! The Bulls were looking for answers in all the wrong places.

Zipser did have a nice sequence where he held his own in the low post defensively, then sprinted down the court once possession changed and beat everybody for an easy layup. He followed that play with another defensive blunder. Every time a Bulls player did something productive, they usually canceled it out with a mindless play.

By the end of the first half, the Wizards were up big, 59-40. Chicago had 12 team turnovers and were generally sloppy the whole half.

3rd Quarter

The Bulls really struggled to crawl back into this game. Every time they did something positive, the Wizards seemed to match it immediately. Leaving zero room to get back into the game.

When Rondo pushed the pace nicely leading him to an easy layup, John Wall does the exact same thing on the other end. These types of sequences filled the third quarter, Chicago never looked likely to climb back into the match up.

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One thing that may have made the poor soul of any Bulls fan who chose to spend their Friday night watching this mess of a game smile a little, was when Mirotic shot got blocked and blasted up in the air only to find it’s way into Lopez’ hands beneath the rim for a tip-in that beat the shot clock buzzer. That’ll make you smile for a moment, even if nothing else in this game did.

The quarter ends 72-84 in favor on the team from Washington.

4th Quarter

The fourth opened with the Wizards looking sleepy. The play was still relatively ugly, though the Bulls were able to get the lead all the way down to six early in the fourth following a Valentine 3-pointer. Comeback!

Michael Carter-Williams didn’t bring a lot to the table, but he did bring energy that helped slow down the Wizards offensive rhythm a bit.

The Bulls cut the lead to four when Mirotic drove and found Joffrey Lauvergne with a dump pass and he finishes with a floater.

#Bulls continue to battle back. 91-87 with 6:14 left to play.
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) March 18, 2017

This game is ugly, though it won’t die. A Valentine 3 is followed by a Bradley Beal bucket and the Wizards lead by six with 2:46 left in the game.

Minutes later Mirotic hits a three and it’s a two-point game.

The Bulls somehow found themselves with a chance to tie the game with 18 seconds left. Down three, Hoiberg attempted to draw up a play to get Butler an open look from beyond the arc. Though he ended up getting a tough shot and misses.

After the Bulls tried to extend the game by fouling the final score would be 107-112, Wizards.

The Bulls struggled all night their first game after Wade’s fractured elbow. Robin Lopez scored a season-high 25 points, though there weren’t many other positives to pull from the game