The 3 career-best performances that led the Wizards to victory against the Bulls
By Arrick Joel
During Monday night's one-game road trip to the United Center, the Washington Wizards handled business against the Chicago Bulls to notch their third consecutive win. Despite what their season-long regard suggests, the Wizards have been on a roll lately and viewers around the league are taking notice.
With Kyle Kuzma sidelined due to a nagging soreness in his left shoulder, the Wizards needed production from some unassuming places and got exactly that in Chicago. In a game that came down to needing clutch free throws in the closing seconds, the Wizards turned away the Bulls and secured a 107-105 victory.
Three Wizards have career-best performances in Monday's win
During Monday's contentious win, Wizards backup guard Jared Butler logged just over 27 minutes of game action, his second-highest total this season, and did not let the extended minutes go to waste. Butler finished the game with 13 assists, a new career high for the former National Champion.
According to a tweet from Monumental Sports Network reporter Chase Hughes, Butler became the Wizards' youngest player since John Wall in 2014 to eclipse 10 assists in a game during his career night against the Bulls.
Joining Butler in the fun on Monday was Corey Kispert, who came up with a pair of must-have free throws in the game's final seconds to slam the door on Chicago. The 25-year-old forward ended the night with a dozen rebounds, setting a new career-best mark in his 221st NBA game. With 19 points to go along with his work on the glass, Kispert recorded the first double-double of his career on Monday.
In a night full of firsts, Butler drove down towards the basket and kicked it back out to rookie center Tristan Vukcevic, who dialed up a straightaway three-pointer for the first made basket of his NBA career. In his brief nine-minute outing on Monday, Vukcevic knocked down two of his four attempts from beyond the arc while collecting three rebounds.
Riding high off a three-game win streak, the Wizards are set to return home to the District on Wednesday for a matchup against the Brooklyn Nets. If Washington can continue to garner production from the team's young rotation players, there is a good chance the home crowd at Capital One Arena could see their team add another game to this streak.