Washington Wizards: Rapid Reactions to tonight’s loss against the Bulls

The Washington Wizards played a game with playoff implications against the Chicago Bulls Sunday night. Here’s in-depth notes for the entire game.

Nothing could be more mind-boggling than the fact that the 20-34 Washington Wizards playing the 19-38 Chicago Bulls would have playoff implications, but it did. With both teams just a handful of games out of the 8th seed, the postseason is somehow still mathematically possible for both teams.

Both teams are beginning to turn more and more to their youth, with the Bulls focusing on the development of rookie Coby White and finally featuring Daniel Gafford, and the Washington Wizards hopeful that Troy Brown, Moritz Wagner, Thomas Bryant, or Isaac Bonga can pan out and become the NBA’s next phenom.

Even though the Bulls are bad, it was always going to be a tough game away at the U.C. as the Wizards were just 7-20 on the road leading up in to this game. If it had been at Capital One Arena, the story may be different.

The Chicago Bulls were without Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., Otto Porter Jr., Luke Kornet, Kris Dunn, Denzel Valentine, and Chandler Hutchison in this one. The Washington Wizards were without John Wall, Garrison Mathews, and Anzejs Pasecniks.

This game started rough, with the defense-less Wizards giving up 73 points in the first half to a less-than-stellar Chicago Bulls offense. And it wouldn’t get much better on that front, with the Wizards giving up 126 total points.

On the offensive end, history was made. Bradley Beal put up a career high and Coby White put up his second 30+ point game in a row, with both teams ending up shooting the ball better than 50 percent from the field, and 40 percent or better from behind the line.

It was an offensive showcase, and the better team tonight came out on top, dropping the Wizards’ head-to-head matchup against the Bulls to 1-3 on the season. More details to follow in the coming slides!

First quarter notes

The Washington Wizards controlled this game from the jump, dictating the pace and shutting down the Chicago Bulls. Both teams, however, were able to put in work from beyond the arc in this one shooting a hot 50 percent on both sides in the first half of the quarter.

Another Ian Mahinmi start made me roll my eyes immediately, and as predicted he got bullied under the basket almost immediately by a rookie and missed a gimme from would-be Point Bonga.

But luckily Bradley Beal came to play. In the first quarter, he put up 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting and looked head and shoulders above the rest of the competition to start.

Rui Hachimura managed to put up some impressive baskets early and Washington Wizards fans need to be excited about this young man, as he pressed the issue in transition and made smart choices left and right. Even if he’s not going to put up 20 points per game, his decision-making on the offensive end and within the flow of the game is a net positive for this young Washington Wizards squad.

Hachimura is still missing three’s though, but we shouldn’t be too concerned just yet. It can only get better. He finished 0-for-1 from beyond the arc.

Zach LaVine had a terrible start to this game and continued his miserable basketball play from his previous game where he put up seven turnovers last night against the Phoenix Suns.

Thaddeus Young decided it was showtime on the Bulls though and showcased some phenomenal shooting for a guy not necessarily known for stepping out beyond the arc. At one point, he was three-for-three from behind the line.

When Coby White came into the game, he tried to put his stamp all over this one from the moment he set foot on the floor, but Rui Hachimura answered immediately and it was a fun sequence to watch. Perhaps we’re seeing two future all-stars here, a few years down the road.

Keeping Coby White in check was definitely a key to the game, and the Wizards didn’t do a terrible job of it when he first came into this one, throwing some different looks his way and not letting him get wide open looks. But he’s a gifted scorer and still put up 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting in this first quarter, despite the Wizards’ best efforts.

The Wizards went ice-cold towards the end of the quarter when Bradley Beal came out, and they’ll have to find ways to score with their star off the floor if they want to win these games. But they stayed aggressive and shot 9 free throws compared to just 3 for the Bulls which kept them in this game.

End of 1st quarter score: 31-35

Second quarter notes

With the Washington Wizards getting crushed by a rookie in minimal minutes, I was hoping they would come out and show some defense (ha) to begin the second half. Their answer was to put Jerome Robinson on him, which is interesting and shows a lot to see how much confidence Scott Brooks has in the new, young addition to this Wizards squad.

It’s interesting to note that Tomas Satoransky, who completely crushed us in our last meeting with this Bulls team, didn’t score his first bucket until about two minutes into the second quarter. So that was nice.

Both teams couldn’t help but turn the ball over a bunch, combining for 16 at the 9-minute mark of this basketball game, with 8 apiece. The teams would finish with 50 combined turnovers. Oof.

Zach LaVine decided to start playing basketball at about the 9-minute mark too, putting up some quick impressive jumpers and playing some pretty solid defense on Bradley Beal. He also just so happened to set the Chicago Bulls single season record for three-point makes in a season, surpassing Ben Gordon.

And then you had Sato posterizing Davis Bertans:

The Wizards looked really lost here on offense and resorted to hero ball and long jumpers, getting bailed out by the shooting of the aforementioned Bertans and Beal. And they stayed sloppy with the ball, though they somehow committed less turnovers than the Bulls up through the 5-minute mark in the second quarter. That wouldn’t hold through the half.

At the 4:04 mark, there was a nasty hit on Beal from Thaddeus Young, but to be honest it didn’t look malicious at all. Still, the teams exchanged some words and Beal was left holding his face. They made up shortly afterwards, so it turned out to be nothing.

The free throws evened out in this one as the Washington Wizards began to get frustrated and commit silly fouls and to be honest the refs were absolutely letting things go the other way, with several plays where fouls should have been called on the Bulls and they weren’t.

Coby White broke the current season’s record for most points by a rookie in the half. Yay, Wizards defense. The wheels really started to come off towards the end of this half…

End of 2nd Quarter Score: 58-73

Third quarter notes

The Chicago Bulls have been notoriously bad in the third quarter this season, so even though the Wizards started this quarter down 15 points, all was not even close to lost. The Bulls only have 19 wins on the season for a reason, after all.

But Zach LaVine came out of the half with his shooting shoes on, hitting two threes from distance to extend the Bulls’ lead. Then Thaddeus Young followed it up with a three-ball of his own and Scott Brooks was forced to call a timeout.

Bradley Beal decided to put action to his “I don’t like losing” mentality and lead the charge to bring the Wizards back into this one, kicking off a series of four unanswered makes in a row with a few assists and putting his body on the line. It just makes me nervous because it’s increasingly looking like he’s doing that this season for nothing.

Ish Smith, who typically eats the Bulls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner decided to show up finally and was quietly having a nice game by the mid-point of this third quarter with 10 points, four assists, and two steals.

When the Wizards cut it back to a 13 point lead, Jim Boylen was forced to call his own timeout, and the Wizards looked to be turning the corner and getting back into this one. But Boylen took the timeout to put Coby White back in the game, so Wizards fans had a reason to be nervous, especially after the rookie hit his first step-back jumper.

But Davis Bertans began his Latvian shooting clinic, beginning two-for-two from beyond the arc, and the Wizards were suddenly within nine points.

Thaddeus Young continued his own ridiculous shooting, going five-for-five from beyond the arc thus far and shooting it better than Davis Bertans. Are you serious? It doesn’t help that basically every three-point shot happened without a Wizard within five steps.

Bradley Beal began to look noticeably winded with about a minute left in the third, and had logged the most minutes of any Washington Wizard by four minutes. I’d love to see a better minutes distribution, even if it costs us games. No reason to run down Bradley Beal.

Coby White pretty much took over the game to close out the quarter as if he were a seasoned vet, it was kind of impressive to watch. You wonder why this kid is still buried in Chicago’s rotations and offensive sets.

End of 3rd quarter score: 85-101

Fourth quarter notes & bullet points

The first few minutes of the fourth quarter were rather uneventful, with more of the same as Coby White took charge and the Wizards played uninspired offensive basketball sans Bradley Beal and nonexistent defense, the defensive part including Beal’s own lackluster effort.

Tomas Satoransky continued his good play against the Washington Wizards (he was averaging 18 points per game against them before this game, most against any team in the league for him) and reached a double double with 12 points and 11 assists with nine minutes left in this game. He would finish with 15 points and 13 assists, a solid line for Sato.

The game was still winnable, with the Wizards only trailing by 14 with eight and a half minutes remaining in this game. We desperately needed someone besides Beal to step up, and it seemed like Bertans was the one that was going to fill that void.

At the 7:40 mark, Beal took another beating. This time at the hands of Shaquille Harrison, and this one was still a basketball play, but with so much offensive burden on Bradley Beal I really think the Wizards are playing with fire here if there’s no intent on pushing guys hard now. And there shouldn’t be.

At this point, by the way, Moritz Wagner had managed just seven minutes in this game. Why?

Still, the Bulls are the Bulls and despite the big lead the Washington Wizards had cut the deficit to just nine points with seven minutes remaining, then Bertans got to the line and cut it to just seven. Then on the very next play, Zach LaVine scored and Bradley Beal committed his fifth foul of the game. Classic Wizards.

But Bradley Beal would not let up, keeping the Wizards in this one singlehandedly. Good thing we paid the man. Beal would end with a career-high 53 points on 15-for-27 shooting.

But Zach LaVine took the challenge personally and went on a mini flurry of his own with two hard jams to put some distance between the Wizards and the Bulls. And the Bulls continued to force the switch with Bertans, with guards taking advantage of the slow feet of the Latvian on the perimeter. The Wizards would not recover from this one.

Bradley Beal became one of just four visiting players to put up 50+ points in the United Center. Ridiculous. And his team still couldn’t put up a win. To be honest, I’d be kind of angry too.

End of 4th quarter score: 117-126

Post-game notes

• Coby White is a capable scorer and is growing in confidence. I’m expecting big things from him down the stretch of this season and beyond.
• The Washington Wizards really need to figure out something on defense. Whether it’s throwing in some traps or getting different players to DC that can give an effort on that end, it’s got to happen for us to be competitive.
• I’m probably not as high on Davis Bertans as most Wizards fans, but he really showed out in this game and was probably the second best player on offense. But I still think he’s a one-dimensional player and I’m not sure he’s the best option to start for us at the price he’ll be fetching in the offseason.
• Thaddeus Young can ball, and he plays hard as heck.
• Scott Brooks’ rotations are confusing, if our plan is to develop young talent. Play Moritz Wagner, for the love of goodness.
• Jerome Robinson did not play well in this one, unfortunately.
• Beal is still the man. But he’s going to need help.