After defeating the Miami Heat in their season opener on Wednesday, the Chicago Bulls suffered their first loss, falling to the Washington Wizards 102-100. Here are three main points from yesterday's match.
This team has personality.
After going from 6 in the set, Kyle Kuzma's consecutive three-pointers increased the Wizards' lead to 15 to start the third set--Denny Avdega's two-way play helped Washington get past the extension. However, it took right-handed Bradley Bell 7.4 seconds before the Wizards won their opening match at home at the Capital One Arena.
"What was disappointing in the first half was that we gave up a hat-trick, and one of the things we talked about was that we had to be competitive," coach Billy Donovan said.
DeMar DeRozan almost won it for the Bulls, but his 3-point attempt ended. It was the All-Star striker who engineered the team's comeback attempt: in the last two minutes he scored 6 points, including a knockout with 30 seconds left, the number was 100.
DeRozan continued his historic debut this season with 32 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. He also re-established himself as the man of choice for the Chicago team, who showed plenty of character with an impressive second-half comeback on the road.
Defensive contradictions
Although the Bulls only allowed Washington to score 6 points late in the third quarter, defensive inconsistencies throughout the game ended up costing them a win.
Aside from the aforementioned stretch to start the second half, the Bulls also gave Washington 15 points 6-7 from the field in the first four minutes of the game.
The Wizards finished the competition with a shooting rate of 51.2% and got the shots they wanted from the other end of the field. The Bulls shot 41.8 percent as a team and made 27 of 33 free throw attempts as Nikola Vucevic reached a new professional level with 12 of 12 moves in play.
However, the defense was an issue that the Bulls coach hoped to fix once the team's best defender, Lonzo Ball, returned from injury.
Lavigne needs
DeRozan and Vucevic scored 56 points - the senior player had 24 points and was 8 of 5 for 14 rebounds from the ground. However, the lack of contributions from the bench (the second unit scored 27 points after 37 points against the Heat) cost the Bulls.
Fortunately for Chicago, head coach Billy Donovan said Zach Lavigne will play his first season against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday.
Adding another scorer will help the Bulls diversify their attack. He will also improve the second unit, adding Alex Caruso who was a key goalkeeper in place of the injured star.
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