Washington Wizards: Rapid Reactions to tonight’s win against the Bulls
By Keith Cork
Third quarter notes
The sloppy play continued into the third quarter with missed opportunities and turnovers left and right in the first minute, but the Wizards regained composure first, jumping ahead by 11 points.
Thaddeus Young got into early foul trouble, picking up his fourth on the game within the first two minutes of the quarter, forcing the already thin Bulls to make a choice. They chose to keep Young in, so this was a big opportunity for this young Wizards team to show some basketball IQ and take advantage.
Thad wasn’t attacked and didn’t pick up another foul the rest of the game. Big missed opportunity, but it wouldn’t matter much in the end.
Ian Mahinmi decided to turn back the clock this quarter with some athletic plays on the offensive and defensive ends of the floor. I really wish he would do it every minute he’s on the floor. But it became the Ian Mahinmi show with dunks seemingly every play as his defender constantly left him unattended to stop the ball.
The Bulls’ offense may have been called “how do we turn the ball over in the dumbest way possible?” as they threw the ball directly to Washington Wizards players several times, and just generally looked like a high school team instead of an NBA team.
Mahinmi ended the third quarter with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and exposed the Bulls’ lack of depth all quarter long. The Wizards had 24 points in the paint in this quarter alone.
If you needed any proof of the horrible defense of the Chicago Bulls, mark down that the Washington Wizards scored 100 points in just three quarters.