Preview: Wizards At Bulls

[April 22, 2014]  The Chicago Bulls were supposed to have the advantage on the inside while the Washington Wizards used their speed to control the perimeter. It turned out that the opposite was true in Game 1, and the fifth-seeded Wizards will try to ride the combination on Nene and Marcin Gortat to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference series when they visit the fourth-seeded Bulls on Tuesday. Nene and Gortat combined for 39 points and 21 rebounds in Game 1.

Nene was brought back slowly after returning from an MCL injury in April and came off the bench during the final weeks of the regular season. The Wizards put the forward back into the starting lineup for Game 1 and he went 11-for-17 for 24 points in 35 minutes before Gortat and Trevor Ariza took over down the stretch. Chicago, which led the league in scoring defense during the regular season, allowed Washington to shoot 48.6 percent from the field and gave up over 100 points for the first time since March 30 in the 102-93 loss.

TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, TNT, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington), CSN Chicago

ABOUT THE WIZARDS: The big games from Gortat and Nene helped make up for John Wall and Bradley Beal combining to go 7-for-25 from the field, though the two guards each hit a pair of free throws in the final 25 seconds to help put it away. "I know I can play better offensively, but to get a win like this and have my teammates step up when I didn't have a good game is big for us," Wall told the Washington Post. "We don't have a lot of experience as young guys, me and (Beal), but we have great leaders." One of those leaders is veteran guard Andre Miller, who scored eight of his 10 points in the fourth quarter in Game 1.

ABOUT THE BULLS: Chicago squandered a 13-point third-quarter lead in Game 1 and missed nine of its last 11 field-goal attempts as Washington took control down the stretch. "We have to pick up our intensity," center Joakim Noah told reporters. "Up 13, we exhaled, they came back. Bad turnovers, they got some easy scores. We got to make our adjustments. This is chess. It isn't checkers." Noah, who was named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year on Monday, recorded 10 points and 10 rebounds in Game 1 despite missing practice time during the week while grieving the death of his mentor, Tyrone Green.

BUZZER-BEATERS

1. Gortat has recorded four straight double-doubles going back to the regular season.
   

2. Bulls G D.J. Augustin went 3-for-15 from the floor but hit all 10 free-throw attempts in Game 1.
   

3. Chicago sent Washington to the free-throw line 35 times on Sunday (26-of-35).
   

PREDICTION: Bulls 93, Wizards 90

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