Preview: Bulls at Wizards

[January 17, 2014]  (SportsDirect Inc.) — One lucky team will walk away from Friday's game as a .500 team when the Chicago Bulls visit the Washington Wizards. The Wizards had little trouble with the Bulls in Chicago in a 102-88 triumph on Monday and followed that up by destroying the Miami Heat 114-97 to pick up a fourth win in six games on Wednesday. The Bulls needed three overtimes to edge the Orlando Magic 128-125 on the road Wednesday and are struggling on defense.

Strength on the defensive end has been Chicago's calling card since Tom Thibodeau took over as the coach but the Magic shot 51 percent from the field on Wednesday after the Wizards had gone off at 52 percent on Monday. "We had a hard time getting stops," Thibodeau told reporters after Wednesday's game. "And they made some tough shots. We've got to get our defense together." Washington managed only 28 points in the paint in Monday's win over the Bulls but found soft spots in the midrange.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, CSN Chicago, CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington)

ABOUT THE BULLS (18-19): Chicago is down two All-Stars from the beginning of the season but still has Joakim Noah, who put up season-best outputs of 26 points and 19 rebounds in the win on Wednesday and has taken it upon himself to keep the team from letting up. "We grind hard every day, and we give it our best effort every day," Noah told ESPNChicago.com. The assumption was that the Bulls had given up on a title chance with Derrick Rose injured when they traded away Luol Deng, but the team has gone 3-1 since that deal and is 6-1 since the start of January.

ABOUT THE WIZARDS (18-19): Washington led 43-18 after the first quarter on Wednesday and ran the defending champion Heat off the floor in an easy win. John Wall and Nene each had nine of the Wizards' 30 assists in that game and seven players reached double figures as coach Randy Wittman again went with a tight rotation of eight players. Washington is thriving at the defensive end as well, holdisng opponents to 97 points or fewer in each of its last four wins, and forced 18 turnovers at Chicago on Monday to help keep the Bulls from getting back into the game.

BUZZER-BEATERS

1. The Wizards have taken three of the last four in the series, including the last two at home.
   

2. Noah is averaging 15 rebounds over the last five games.
   

3. Washington F Trevor Ariza (illness) is questionable for Friday.
   

PREDICTION: Wizards 95, Bulls 91

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