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Despite a spirited effort, the Wizards fell to the Bulls 126-120 in overtime Wednesday night in Chicago.
It marked the second straight loss for the Wizards, as the team lost Monday night at home to the Utah Jazz.
The Wizards got off to a slow start, as Chicago jumped out to an early lead. The Bulls held a 12-3 run in the early going before the Wizards started to find their rhythm on offense. The first frame ended with the Bulls leading 35-28. A 3-pointer from Bradley Beal put the Wizards up 45-42, which was their first lead of the game. Beal knocked down a pair of free throws before halftime to tie the proceedings at 60 all.
Washington started the second half off strong and scored five straight points. However, the Wizards also shot 8-23 from the field in the third quarter, which prevented them from building a sustainable lead. As time was set to expire in the third quarter, Beal glided in for a layup that cut the Bulls' lead to four.
In the fourth quarter, Jabari Parker drained back-to-back triples to put the Wizards up 94-91 with just under eight minutes left in regulation. Parker was fantastic on offense in the fourth quarter, netting 12 points. Despite Parker's outburst, the Bulls managed to jump back ahead. Down 110-109 with a minute left, the Wizards turned the ball over and committed a flagrant foul, which seemed to spell the end. But with 14.2 seconds left, Chicago's Ryan Arcidiacono only made one of two free throws, which left the Wizards down 113-111. Coming out of a timeout, Bradley Beal drained a mid-range jumper to tie the game at 113-113, and force overtime.
A 3-pointer from Lauri Markkanen with 32.3 seconds left in overtime put the Bulls up 124-119 and secured the win for Chicago.
Ball security plagued the Wizards all night long, as the Bulls managed to capitalize on 16 Washington turnovers. Chicago also enjoyed a much better night shooting the ball from beyond the arc (52.2 % compared to Washington's 33.3 %).
Additionally, head coach Scott Brooks cited rebounding as another catalyst for Wednesday night's loss.
“We gave up way too many offensive rebounds," Brooks said postgame. "We made some mistakes defensively at critical times, but both teams fought and played hard. They got a couple more stops than we did. We made too many defensive mistakes on [Lauri] Markkanen getting wide open, and then give Kris Dunn credit. At that time he was 1-5, and he hit two big threes.”
Despite the loss, the team showed resiliency and fight for the full duration of the game, which is something Bobby Portis noted after the game.
“It’s frustrating that we lost knowing that we’re fighting for something and we were that close to winning," Bobby Portis said postgame. "We were down four, five, six points with about three minutes left and showed some fight. We did some great things, but we did some bad things too.”
Jabari Parker, playing in his second game in Chicago since being traded to the Wizards, finished with a team-high 28 points (11-18 fg). Right behind him was Bradley Beal, who ended the night with 27 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists. Tomas Satoransky had a well-rounded night as well, finishing 16 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. Rookie Troy Brown Jr. (nine points, 10 rebounds) finished one point shy of his first career triple-double.
Second-year forward Lauri Markkanen led the Bulls with 32 points in 37 minutes, and also connected on five 3-pointers. Kris Dunn also provided major production for the Bulls with 26 points, 13 assists, and six rebounds.
The Wizards return to action tomorrow night to host the Denver Nuggets in Washington, D.C. It will be the first meeting of the year between the teams. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 P.M. (NBCSW/1500 AM).