Wizards fall to Bulls as road woes go on originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Washington Wizards lost to the Chicago Bulls 115-111 on Wednesday night. Here are v takeaways from what went downwards…
Road woes proceed
The struggle continues for the Washington Wizards, equally they lost a close one to the Bulls in Chicago on Wed, making it seven losses in their last eight games. The Wizards are going through their most difficult stretch of the season and then far, with losses piling up and a slew of injuries compounding their issues.
This was the beginning game since Bradley Beal was determined to be out at least a calendar week with a hamstring strain. They sure could have used him every bit the Bulls narrowly held off the Wizards thanks to a avalanche of threes in the fourth quarter past Zach LaVine and then a string of clutch baskets past DeMar DeRozan.
The Wizards have now lost six direct games on the road going dorsum to the dark before Thanksgiving. They are three-9 for the season away from Capital One Arena.
Points off turnovers
The Wizards came into this game averaging the third-fewest turnovers and the fourth-lowest turnover percentage, just they had some issues protecting the ball against Chicago. The Bulls are one of the best teams at turning teams over and converting them into points on the other end, ranking tertiary in both categories. They were able to force the Wizards into some uncharacteristic mistakes, as Washington committed 18 turnovers, almost five more than they boilerplate for the flavour (xiii.three).
The Bulls actually had more turnovers than the Wizards did with 19. But Chicago was much more successful capitalizing on mistakes, equally they had 28 points off turnovers compared to 15 for the Wizards. Surely, the Wizards were aware the Bulls average twenty.2 points off turnovers, simply they were unable to take away one of their biggest strengths.
Kuz and KP led the criminal offence
With Beal out, it was no surprise to come across Kyle Kuzma and Kristaps Porzingis dial up the aggression on the offensive end. They both started attacking early, combining for 21 field goal attempts in the first half and 35 for the game. Kuzma collection into the lane over and over, attempting a agglomeration of shots in traffic. Porzingis let it wing from all over and also got to the line, striking 12 of his sixteen attempts.
The Bulls, however, were able to go on both guys from shooting efficiently. Kuzma had 21 points on eight-for-18 shooting, while Porzingis had 28 points while shooting 8-for-17 overall and 0-for-6 from deep. Porzingis appeared to tweak something in the kickoff quarter and was bruised upwardly and downwards the courtroom for a few plays before a timeout was called. He ended upwardly staying in there and looked fine, as the Wizards averted a crisis with Beal already down. Porzingis and Kuzma have an opportunity to establish a good rhythm together as the chief scoring options over the next several games.
Rotation changes
Beal wasn’t the simply member of the Wizards’ rotation missing for this game every bit Rui Hachimura remains out due to a bone trample in his right ankle. He has now missed the WIzards’ last nine games. Delon Wright likewise remains sidelined with a hamstring issue. He has been out for 21 games at present, and then a quarter of the flavor. Given both Beal and Wright were missing, the Wizards could have used rookie first-round pick Johnny Davis, just he is unavailable due to health and rubber protocols.
With so many players out of the mix, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. used an all-hands-on-deck strategy against the Bulls. He played all ten players who suited up, though he relied heavily on his starters following 2 off days since the last game. Still, there were some unusual lineups similar ane featuring both Daniel Gafford and Taj Gibson in the frontcourt alongside Kuzma. That was a jumbo lineup we probable won’t see often this year.
More Gafford with Porzingis
It is now iii directly games we have seen Gafford and Porzingis play on the courtroom together, so it might be becoming a thing. Another sign that it’s hither to stay is that this time they were playing an opponent not known for their paint scoring. It was understandable to go to that pairing when they were facing the Hornets and Lakers, both top-x paint offenses, only the Bulls entered this game 23rd in the league in the category.
When the Wizards went to that look in the third quarter, it was not like the Bulls were killing them in the paint, either. The Wizards actually won the pigment-scoring boxing, 60-52. The Wizards were down, so maybe Unseld Jr. just wanted to shake things upward. There were besides the same lineup constraints caused by injuries. But seeing Gafford and Porzingis out in that location together on Wednesday seemed like an indication information technology has some lasting ability.
