An Ugly Win Is Still A Win!
Bulls beat Wizards despite poor play
(3-2) @ (2-2)
Bulls- 20 | 16 | 20 | 29 | 85
Wizards- 20 | 17 | 21 | 13 | 81
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP)-The Bulls beat the Wizards Monday, but really shouldn't of beat the Wizards. The Bulls shot a dismal 35% from the field and most of the team was in foul trouble the whole game. Luckily for the Bulls, the Wizards weren't much better. A total of 58 foul shots were taken in the game. The Bulls were an amazing 30-30 from the charity stripe, which turned out to be the difference in the game.
"This is the kind of game that seperates contenders from pretenders," Coach Skiles said, "The team didn't have their best stuff tonight, but you have to go out their and fight through it with true grit. That's exactly what we did and why we came out victorious."
The Bulls looked to be headed for their first easy win of the year, jumping out 20-10 in the first quarter forcing Washington to take a time out. Those thoughts were quickly washed away when Washington went on one of its many runs, this one a ten-to-nothing, to end the quarter.
"They just never quit," Ben Gordon said, "No matter how much we were up by they just kept coming back. It got quite annoying."
The Bulls again jumped ahead of the Wiz by eight points. But the streaky Wizards quickly fought back to take the lead at halftime. By this time the Bulls were in serious foul trouble as Saduki Choi and Ben Gordon sat out the second quarter with 3 and 2 fouls, respectively. Choi wold miss most of the third after picking up his fourth and fifth fouls. He also missed half of the fourth resulting in his worst scoring output as a pro.
"I was really disapointed with myself out there tonight. I needed to be out there on the floor helping my team win. I need to stop making mistakes." Choi, the rookie first rond pick, was obviously upset with himself. (Look at the bright side kid, you collected 10 rebounds, but you
only had six blocks!)
The fourth quarter is when it really got exciting. Down by six with 1:30 to go, Coach Skiles called a timeout. Kirk Hinrich knew what he had to do. Hinrich quickly took the inbounds pass and drove down the court and into the lane to hit the short pull-up jumper. After a forcing a miss, Hinrich grabbed the rebound and pushed it down court connecting with Luol Deng on the Alley-oop. On the next possesion Hinrich wold intercept a pass and take it the other way for the game-tying finger roll lay-up with 40 seconds to go.
"I took it upon myself to not let us lose this game. I told everyone in the huddle when Coach Skiles in the time-out that we weren't going to lose. They started to believe and that's why we won"
On the next possession, Washington would miss
another shot in which Ben Gordon took the rebound and drove it the length of the court for the dunk to give the Bulls the lead. It was a lead they would not relinquish. Gordon and Hinrich hit clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
Marquee Matchup
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The winner of the
'Marquee Matchup' between Gilbert Arenas and Kirk Hinrich is: Gilbert Arenas! Even though the Washington Wizards lost the game, it was by no means Arenas' fault. He scored 28 points to go along with two boards and two steals. Hinrich couldn't stop Arenas from driving to the basket which is partially the reason of the foul trouble of Sadiku Choi.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Antonio Davis won his first 'Player Of The Game' of the season against the Wizards for his stellar performace scoring 24 points and collecting 18 boards for his third double-double of the year in five games. Antonio Davis is off to an excellent start to this season and from the looks of it his finest season in the NBA may be in the works.
[ BOX SCORE ]
Up Next
(3-2) @ (2-4)
TV: ESPN
RADIO: WBCP-AM
Preview
The Bulls are trying to extend a two game winning streak when they head to Philadelphia to play A.I. and the Sixers. The Sixers are off to a tough start this season and are looking to get back on the ball.
Marquee Matchup: Allen Iverson vs. Ben Gordon
The Sixers success rely solely on Iverson. With no real other scoring threat Iverson has to get 25 points or more to keep the Sixers in the game. If Gordon can keep Iverson from doing that, Gordon will be successful in this matchup.
PROBABLE STARTERS
C- Sadiku Choi
PF- Antonio Davis
SF- Luol Deng
SG- Ben Gordon
PG- Kirk Hinrich
C- Samuel Dalembert
PF- Kenny Thomas
SF- Glen Robinson
SG- Allen Iverson
PG- Kevin Ollie
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