Perhaps the biggest surprise of this tumultuous season was that no one had recorded a triple-double against the Bulls. John Wall took care of that with 29 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, becoming the first opponent to pull off the feat since LeBron James last April. Every other Wizards starter reached double figures, including 20 points from Bradley Beal. Garrett Temple made five 3-pointers off the bench in the first half and those 15 points were his offense for the whole game.
Doug McDermott came off the bench to lead the Bulls with 20 points, making all five of his free throws. Jimmy Butler had 17, but nine came from the charity stripe as he shot just 4-of-12 from the field. Derrick Rose's 16 would have been higher had he shot better than 7-of-19. Justin Holiday scored 13 and even mentioning his name is an indicator of how this game went.
One day before St. Patrick's Day, the Bulls have 33 losses, one more than they had all of last year. But Gar Forman and John Paxson, please tell us again why things are so much better around Chicago with no Tom Thibodeau and virtually the same roster. I'm guessing becoming a team that goes in and out of the final playoff spot in the East was not in your plans, yet here we are. The injuries haven't helped, but the way you set this all up makes that hot seat burn hotter, though I don't know if Jerry Reinsdorf has the guts to turn the heat up on you.
The Bulls have to get right back at it Thursday against the Brooklyn Nets. Perhaps luckily for them, not as many people will be watching because of the first real day of March Madness. That's probably good news for most of us. We can get excited about basketball instead of being disappointed.
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