Last night, Chicago got their first glimpse. In his 13 minutes of play, Joe Smith scored 7 points and grabbed 1 rebound. One of his baskets was a jumper from the top of the key. This showed that he possesses somewhat of a mid-range jumpshot.As a team, Chicago's stifling defense was able to shut down Washington's offense and give them their first preseason loss. Not only did the Bulls beat the Wizards, but they basically laid the smackdown on their candy asses. Chicago held Washington's shooting to 32%. With Caron Butler sitting out, Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison were expected to lead the Wizards to victory, but Chicago had other plans in mind. The only major offense for Washington was done at the free throw line, where they shot 34 for 41. Washington even had twice as many blocks as Chicago, but it was not enough to contain Chicago's momentum.
The first quarter was all Bulls and all defense. Chicago held Washington to only 11 points. Granted the Bulls weren't exactly shooting lights out, but their offense wasn't nearly as disastrous as Washington's. Tyrus Thomas added some major momentum after slamming down a putback dunk, which also granted him the NBA.com Dunk of the Night honors.
In the second quarter, Washington's offense began to pick up due to the up tempo play of rookie Nick Young. But the Bulls kept right up with Washington. Chicago was once again led off the bench by Chris Duhon, who had 6 points and 3 assists in the second quarter. To go along with Chicago's outstanding defense, rookie Aaron Gray earned the NBA.com Block of the Night honors after stuffing Nick Young as he was going up for a dunk. Chicago's 10 point lead diminished, but at the end of the half, they still had a 39-34 lead over the Wizards.
The third quarter was just a continuation of the ass whooping Chicago gave Washington in the first half. The Bulls' passing game was in motion with 12 of their 14 made field goals coming off of assists. Seven different Bulls players scored in the 3rd quarter. The offensive onslaught was started by Deng and Gardner, and then it was finished by Nocioni, Smith, and Hinrich. By the end of the quarter, the Bulls had gained a comfortable 75-54 lead.
In the fourth quarter, both teams emptied the benches and let them go at it. Offensively there wasn't much to see. Both teams finished the quarter with only 22 points each. However, there was one highlight. Chicago's Andre Barrett had a perfect pass through traffic in the line to a wide open Joakim Noah. Noah capped this pass off with a dunk. This assist earned Andre Barrett with the NBA.com Assist of the Night. After the damage had been done, the final score of the game was Chicago over Washington, 97-76.
In my previous post, I said that the keys to the game were:
(1)Contain Arenas and Jamison- They shot a combined 1-12 from the field. Washington went 0-14 from 3-point range.
(2) Battle of the benches-Chicago's bench out-shot Washington's bench 60 to 52.
Chicago's highest scorer was Luol Deng, who finished with 11 points. This goes to show that Chicago can win without a prolific scorer as long as Chicago can continue to play team basketball.
Chicago improves their preseason record to 2-1. Chicago will face the Toronto Raptors on Friday. In order to win and make these Raptors extinct, Chicago must be all over defensive rebounds, and they must stop Toronto's 3-point shooting.
Chicago has continued to improve throughout preseason play, and I know that all of Chicago is looking forward to how much better the Bulls will be once Ben Gordon returns to the line-up. Just a warning for Toronto: Ben Gordon expects to play on Friday.
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