LDN - Sports

Wall, Beal lead Wizards' rally past Bulls

[December 22, 2016] CHICAGO -- Scott Brooks knows when his Washington Wizards can play on the run, good things happen, especially down the stretch when the pace starts to wear down opposing teams.

And after a slow start on Wednesday night, the Wizards sped up behind John Wall, who scored 23 points to go along with 21 by Bradley Beal in a 107-97 victory over the Chicago Bulls at the United Center.

The Wizards (13-15) scored 32 fast-break points and outscored the Bulls by 10 in the fourth quarter to finish off their sixth win in its last eight games.

The Wizards' speed and defense made the difference in the end.

"(Chicago) is a team that has closers," Wall said. "(Dwyane) Wade can close, Jimmy (Butler) can close. We just did a great job of just battling, (we) kept fighting and we got the stops we needed."

Marcin Gortat also scored 14 points and had 11 rebounds for Washington, which also got 10 points off the bench from Marcus Thornton.

After trailing by 13 points in the first half, the Wizards turned things around over the final three quarters. The Wizards continued to dictate the pace of play and kept the Bulls from settling into the style of play they prefer.

After knotting the score at 77 to end the third quarter, the Wizards took over in the fourth behind a solid defensive effort.

"We just got stops," Wall said. "We made some shots, they missed a couple of good looks that they had, but we got stops and got to the free-throw line. We were being aggressive."

Two Beal free throws with 4:53 remaining gave the Wizards an eight-point lead.

But Wade, who scored 19 points to go along with a team-high 20 by Butler, got the Bulls (14-14) back within 97-93 with a leaning jumper with just under three minutes to play.

The Wizards turned it on again, though, as Beal again extended the lead with a mid-range jump shot before Gortat scored inside off a pass from Wall to push the Wizards' lead back to eight.

Wall pushed the advantage to double figures for the first time with a basket with just more than a minute to play.

As good as Wall and Beal were in setting the pace, the Wizards got a big effort from their bench led by Thornton and guard Trey Burke, who gave Washington valuable minutes.

It all ended up to another winning effort for the Wizards.

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"There were so many parts of the game that were great for us tonight," Brooks said.

The Bulls, who have lost four of their last five games, never responded as the Wizards never allowed Chicago's closers to hit shots down the stretch.

"Continued effort on defense is something we've been preaching the last couple of games and it's been evident," Beal said. "When we want lock down (defensively) and really lock into guarding our guys, we're a really tough team because we get stops and go execute on the other end."

The Bulls struggled down the stretch from the field and finished the game shooting 40 percent and just 6 of 21 from 3-point range. Chicago also had 15 turnovers.

Taj Gibson (17 points, 11 rebounds), Nikola Mirotic (11 points) and Doug McDermott (10 points) all reached double figures for Chicago.

But despite its balancing scoring and early double-digit lead, the Bulls couldn't score when it mattered in what turned out to be another disappointing effort against an opponent with a losing record.

"I think we came out of the gate with the right mentality," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. "I thought we played the right way and the ball was moving ... but we lost our pace and never regained it back."

NOTES: Wizards C Ian Mahinmi successfully underwent platelet-rich plasma treatment on both knees Wednesday morning and will miss at least another six weeks. Coach Scott Brooks said his rotation without Mahinmi will be "business as usual" as the Wizards have gotten a total of 14 minutes since Mahinmi signed with the Wizards. Mahinmi underwent surgery in October to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee but then developed soreness in his left knee. ... Bulls G Michael Carter-Williams will travel with the team to Charlotte and San Antonio this weekend, coach Fred Hoiberg said Wednesday night. Carter-Williams has been out since Oct. 31 with a bone chip in his left wrist. Carter-Williams told reporters recently that he it is realistic that he could return to the lineup "around Christmas." ... G R.J. Hunter was also inactive for the Bulls.

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