Wiz Fall in Windy City

Three days after snapping their season-high six-game losing streak, the Washington Wizards fell just short in a physical, gritty contest against the heated rival Chicago Bulls. And though this game did not have the same feel as the handful of preceding losses, it was ultimately the same result for Paul Pierce and the Wizards.

The Truth needed just 10 shots to rack up 16 points—aided by 4-for-6 shooting from beyond the arc—and he added three assists, a rebound and a block, but the Wiz still came up empty in a 97-92 loss to the shorthanded Bulls.

Chicago played without former MVP Derrick Rose, who is recovering from knee surgery, All-Star Jimmy Butler and key role player Taj Gibson, but its starting frontcourt of Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah dominated the foul-plagued Wizards.

Point guard John Wall explained to reporters after the game that the Bulls are a team that can never be counted out because of their depth and coaching.

“We knew we had a great chance but we knew it was going to be a tough one,” Wall said. “No matter who they put on the floor, they have a great identity,

[they know] who they are, what kind of system they run and they stick to it. No matter if their star players are there or not, we know they’re a tough team to compete against because of their defense and guys they have that can score the ball and move the ball. We executed some of the game plan most of the time, and some of the times we didn’t, we paid for it and they made big shots.”

Washington head coach Randy Wittman said his team—now 34-27—lacked focus, noting that it’s been a recurring theme throughout the season.

“We take too many periods of the game where you coast,” Wittman said. “We coasted at the start of the game, last five minutes is how we have been playing for 48 minutes. And until we can get that back, it’s going to be a struggle. And it is [a struggle]. Doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We take too many shortcuts, and right now, until we change that mindset of getting back to playing 48 minutes like we did—you can’t coast the last five minutes and expect to win games.”

The Wizards trailed for most of the game, though they remained within striking distance throughout.

Down by seven at halftime in Chicago, Washington needed a spark. As he has so many times this season, not to mention his career, The Truth came through. Paul made back-to-back threes to open the second half, singlehandedly matching the Bulls in scoring through almost three minutes before shooting guard Bradley Beal drained a jumper for Washington.

It was neither the first nor the last time in the game that No. 34 helped jumpstart the Wizards.
The first came less than five minutes into the game, when Washington had started by missing eight of its first nine shots and found itself in an early 9-2 hole. After a Wizards timeout, The Truth drained a tough step-back jumper that sparked an 8-2 Washington run.

A few minutes later, forward Kevin Seraphin couldn’t get anything going and looked out of sorts. During a dead ball, Paul ran over to Seraphin and hashed things out with him. Whatever the 17-year veteran said must have struck a chord with the Wizards big man, as Seraphin responded by hitting back-to-back hook shots—his strongest move—and blocking a Nikola Mirotic shot on the other end.

In the second half, a Wall three-pointer at the buzzer put Washington within seven after three quarters, but Chicago quickly scored five straight points to extend the lead to 12 to start the fourth. Wittman responded by inserting Paul into the lineup, and No. 34 came up with a huge triple to right the ship.

Second-year forward Otto Porter Jr. then hit a pair of free throws, once again narrowing the gap to seven, but Nene gave a hard foul on Noah that was upgraded to a Flagrant 1 and Paul was whistled for a technical foul after arguing with members of the Bulls.

Both Paul and Nene fought through foul trouble all game, with whistles seeming to either come every play or not for long stretches. The flagrant/technical sequence only resulted in a single point for Chicago, thanks to a pair of missed free throws, a missed layup and a turnover, but The Truth was whistled for his fifth personal foul just moments later and Wittman sent the future Hall of Famer to the bench.

The Wizards’ deficit increased to 10 in the more than two minutes No. 34 sat on the bench, but he hit an enormous trey during a quick 12-5 run upon his return, and soon Washington was within three.

However, poor defense on the final few possessions paired with Porter missing a free throw and an inability to secure rebounds doomed the Wizards. While Wittman had success playing small earlier in the fourth quarter, he took Paul out for a late defensive possession in favor of the even smaller Garrett Temple, and Washington paid for it, giving up a backbreaking offensive rebound.

“They got a lead but we fought back and made it a game,” Wall said after the game. “We didn’t execute some of the things we went over in shootaround today, and those were key points in the game. We’ve just got to do a better job of rebounding and executing down the stretch.”

Beal, who missed 12 of his 18 shots, offered to shoulder the blame for not hitting open shots, but he reinforced the notion that the Wizards need to win as a team.

“The game was lost in a variety of ways, it wasn’t just certain possessions,” Beal said. “Sometimes I think we’re hesitant, sometimes I think we’re afraid to make mistakes, but nobody is going to play a perfect game. That’s one thing we’ve got to get through our heads, that we’ve got to come out and be the aggressors: getting to the line early, attacking the basket and just taking what the defense gives us and not be so tentative or hesitant in our decision-making.”

“We’ve just got to figure it out. It’s up to us in here. [Wittman] can preach to us, preach to us, but it’s up to us five and 12. We’ve got to stick together and just figure it out at the end of the day.”

NEXT UP

The Wizards get a few days off to recoup and recover, then they host the division rival Miami Heat. Miami, at 26-33, has won three of its last five games, and the losses have been by a combined four points to the 48-12 Atlanta Hawks and the 32-28 New Orleans Pelicans.

The Wizards have won two of the three matchups so far this season, but the teams have not faced each other since the Heat made the blockbuster deal to acquire guard Goran Dragic.

The Heat are 3-3 with Dragic, though they lost Chris Bosh for the remainder of the season to a blood clot condition and have been playing without him since trading for the dynamic point guard. Washington will therefore face a very different team than the one it beat 105-103 in mid-December.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and can be seen locally on Comcast Sports Net.

RELATED LINKS

• Wizards come up short against Bulls (ESPN, March 3, 2015)
• Pierce still dealing with sore knee (The Washington Post, March 3, 2015)
• Paul Pierce talks about big shots (Boston.com, March 3, 2015)
• Wizards fall to Bulls (Washington Post, March 3, 2015)