By Chase Hughes (@chasedcsports)
WASHINGTON -- The Washington Wizards lost to the Chicago Bulls 129-127 on Friday night at Capital One Arena. Here are three things that stood out about the game...
Close loss
The Wizards closed out their 2023-24 home schedule with a narrow loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday night, leaving one more game on their schedule before the year is officially over.
Washington had a good night offensively, as they shot 52.3% from the field and made 18 threes. The Bulls, though, outrebounded them 56-to-39 and had a large advantage in bench points; 51-to-28.
The Wizards had six players reach double-figures in this one. Corey Kispert had 23 points on a hot shooting night of 8-for-15 from the field and 6-for-11 from the perimeter. He also had seven rebounds and six assists in one of his more complete games of the season.
Deni Avdija also came through with a robust stat-line of 23 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. It was Avdija's sixth double-double in his last 10 games.
Hot start for Vuk
The Wizards put up a 40-point first quarter for the second straight game and this time it was rookie Tristan Vukcevic who helped lead the way. He missed their last game against the Timberwolves on Tuesday due to left knee soreness, but returned with a bang to drop 11 points in the opening frame. That helped him very quickly extend his streak of double-figure scoring games to five, dating back to April 2 when the Wizards beat the Bucks.
Vukcevic finished the game with a new career-high of 19 points (5-11 FG), a steal and a block. He sank two threes and knocked down 7-of-9 from the free throw line. That has been a sneaky trend for him. Vukcevic has shown a knack for getting to the free throw line in his brief NBA tenure so far, as he doesn't seem to shy away from contact when he goes up for shots around the rim.
Davis and PBJ
Johnny Davis had his best scoring game in months on Tuesday in Minnesota, then topped it one game later in this one. Davis had a season-high 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting, including 4-for-5 from long range. The four threes are a new career-high for him in a single game, a big positive as Davis has been working diligently to improve his outside shooting.
Patrick Baldwin Jr. also carried over a strong performance on Tuesday into this one. The 6-foot-9 forward had a career-high 19 points, shooting 7-for-12 overall and 3-for-7 from deep. Baldwin Jr. has done a great job shaking off a recent shooting slump with a pair of solid games in a row.
Up next: The Wizards ship up to Boston for their final game of the 2023-24 regular season in a 1 p.m. matinee.