After winning their first in nine games the previous night in D.C., the Wizards traveled to the Windy City to take on the 15-12 Chicago Bulls. Chicago had been playing the entire season without their star point guard Derrick Rose, who tore his ACL in the Bulls first playoff game in 2012 against the Sixers, and were counting on star forward Luol Deng and center Joakim Noah to carry the load until Rose makes his expected return not too long after the new year.
The Wizards, still without their own point guard, John Wall, started Garrett Temple at point guard after he contributed 13 points and 6 assists off the bench against Orlando on Friday in only his 2nd game removed from the Reno Bighorns of the D-League. Shelvin Mack, who started the last game against Orlando was the first point guard off head coach Randy Wittman's bench, due to Jordan Crawford being out with a sore left ankle.
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| Bulls guard Richard Hamilton is defended by Wizards forward Chris Singleton |
The Wizards led early, scoring 26 points and carrying a 4 point lead into the 2nd quarter. The Bulls then outscored the Wizards 23-13 in the 2nd quarter to take a 45-39 halftime lead after trailing by as many as 8 in the first half. Chicago maintained a lead of 70-63 going into the 4th quarter. The Wizards managed to draw to within 3, making it 72-69 Chicago with just over 10 minutes left in the 4th, but the Bulls held on for an 87-77 victory behind Italian shooting guard Marco Belinelli's 17 points. Carlos Boozer also contributed 15 points and 12 rebounds for Chicago. The Wizards were led by Bradley Beal with 14 points. Kevin Seraphin contributed 12 points and 6 rebounds off the bench, and Garrett Temple had a well-balanced game in the loss, chipping in 8 points and 5 assists to go along with 9 boards. The Bulls moved to 16-12 on the season, while the Wizards fell to 4-24, maintaining the worst record in the league going into their new year's day battle with Dallas at the Verizon Center.
