Game Night From D.C. Bulls (0-3, 0-0 on the road) at Wizards: (0-3, 0-2 at home)
RADIO: 670 The Score: Chuck Swirsky and Bill Wennington: 5:45 pre.
TV: NBCSC: Adam Amin and Stacey King. 6PM.
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: LaVine: 24ppg. Wizards: Beal: 33ppg.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Carter: 8 per. Wizards: Westbrook: 13per.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Satoransky: 6per. Wizards: Westbrook: 13per.
CCI PREVIEW: The Bulls first road show of the season will take them to Washington D.C for two games in three nights capped off with a Friday night game in Milwaukee.
Lauri Markkanen is listed as questionable for tonight's game after sustaining a calf contusion in Sunday's loss to Golden State. Thad Young has been upgraded to probable. He has yet to see action the in pre/regular season.
The Bulls and Wizards are winless on the young season and entering tonight's game both teams are desperate to say the least. The Bulls are coming off a heartbreaking loss to the Warriors but can build off the strength of productivity they received from their starters. The Bulls need to clean things up in the turnovers department averaging 20 per game in their first three outings.
Washington has blown fourth quarter leads surrendering 40, 43 and 38 points respectively in the final period. Bradley Beal came within one point of becoming the first player in franchise history to open the season with three straight games of scoring 30 or more points. He tallied 29 in Sunday's loss to the Magic. Beal, coached by Billy Donovan at Florida is a spectacular player. He's averaging 33 points through the first three games. Newcomer Russell Westbrook sat out Sunday's game but has started the season with back to back triple double games. Westbrook is averaging 18-13-13. For the Wizards to make the playoffs, Beal and Westbrook MUST stay healthy and need a third option to step up and carry the load when Beal/Westbrook are having off nights. Is that player Davis Bertans? The Bulls get their first look at Washington's Deni Avdija who was selected with the ninth pick. Rui Hachimura is sidelined with an eye infection. When healthy he's a key rotation play for Scott Brooks.
CCI NBA NEWS AND NOTES:
Portland 115 Los Angeles Lakers 107. The Blazers' Gary Trent Jr nailed seven- three point field goals. The Lakers finished 2-2 on their season opening home stand. The Lakers streak of 59 straight wins when taking a lead in to the fourth quarter came to an end.
Memphis 116 Brooklyn 111 OT. Rookie of the Year Ja Morant left the arena court in a wheelchair after spraining his left ankle. An MRI is scheduled today. The Nets rested Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Brooklyn's Spencer Dinwiddie has been diagnosed with a partially torn right ACL and will undergo knee surgery next week.
Atlanta 128 Detroit 120. The Hawks are 3-0. The Pistons 0-3.
Denver 124 Houston 111. The Rockets played without John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Gordon. Denver's Nikola Jokic had 19 points and 18 rebounds.
Utah 110 Oklahoma City 109. The Jazz ended a 17 game losing streak in regular season road games against the Thunder.
Tonight's National TV games: TNT: Milwaukee at Miami 6:30 PM CT
TNT: New Orleans at Phoenix 9:00PM CT.
The NBA fined 76ers President of Basketball Operations, Daryl Morey 50-thousand dollars for violating the league's anti-tampering rule.
RIP Donnie Kirksey a household name in the fraternity of Chicago basketball insiders and coaches. Donnie was very well connected, respected and treasured by many of us who love the game and the city of Chicago.
Thanks for reading CCI. Reach out: cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter @ctsbulls
Always a pleasure. Go Bulls!