WASHINGTON – Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, and sometimes when you are good, you are good. For the Chicago Bulls (24-10) both of those things apply as they continue to be one of the hottest teams in the league. Facing off with a Washington Wizards (18-18) that is in the playoff contention, it was DeMar DeRozan playing hero once again with his second straight buzzer-beating three to give the Bulls a 120-119 win.
Before we get to that shot, Zach LaVine was a man on a mission on Saturday dropping a game-high 35 points in 38 minutes. 15 of those came in the first quarter and 20 in the first half as he came out firing. For DeRozan, it was more of the same despite a second straight game shooting under 50%. His 28 points were a part of the course, but the ability he must make shots in the clutch can’t go unnoticed as that three was huge.
While those two are going to garner the most attention, the Bulls had three starters tally 20 points in the game which makes any team tough to beat. Nikola Vucevic had a very quiet 22-point, 12 rebound double-double and has now gone on quite a streak in terms of double-double performances. The suddenly hot Coby White is also giving the Bulls a nice lift with his second straight 20-point effort. White is getting more comfortable with more playing time and is gaining tons of confidence.
When you add in Derrick Jones Jr and his nine points and just six points from the bench, the Bulls starters needed to come to play as they combined for 114 of the teams 120 points. That is not a long-term recipe for success, but they have been able to get away with that latterly. Chicago would need the production from their starters as the Wizards gave them a great game from start to finish.
At one point in the first half, Washington built a 10-point lead as Kyle Kuzma was on fire. Not only did he lead his team with 29 points and 12 rebounds, but that marked his 12th double-double of the season and he is now just five shy of a new career-high. The Wizards also had an incredible effort from Bradley Beal who continues to play well on a .500 team. Beal backed Kuzma with 27 points but added a career-high 17 assists for a double-double of his own as those two made the Wizards offense tick.
While that duo did the most damage, the Wizards had plenty of contributions throughout their roster including former Bull Daniel Gafford. Traded at the deadline last year, Gafford has found a home with Washington and put down 19 points and eight rebounds against his former club. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Kispert chipped in with 13 points and 10 points respectively as their starting five all had double-digit outputs.
After trailing virtually all game, LaVine knocked down a fourth-quarter three to put the Bulls in front by one. Washington not only battled back to retake the lead but took a two-point lead with 3.3 seconds left as Kuzma connected from way downtown to put the team on top. However, 3.3 seconds was too much time as DeRozan not only got the ball in crunch time again but delivered with a game-winning corner three at the horn to lift the Bulls 120-119.
