John Wall and the Washington Wizards (25-11) made a statement, as they beat down the Chicago Bulls (25-12), 102-86. This was the first time that Wall has defeated Bulls point guard Derrick Rose head-to-head.

These two teams sat at the top of the Eastern conference heading into this game, only a half game in the win column separated these two teams record wise. The team with the most home wins in the Eastern conference (Washington) was able to hold off the best road team in the entire league (Chicago).

Wall still leads the Eastern conference guards in All-Star voting, and he only helped his cause tonight, as he scored 16 points and dished out 12 assists. This was Wall’s 21st double-double of the season, which is tied with Anthony Davis for the most in the entire NBA.

The Wizards big men dominated this game on both ends of the floor. Marcin Gortat led the way with 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting, while grabbing 13 rebounds, and blocking two shots. His partner in the paint Nene added 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting and joined the double-double party with 11 rebounds.

The scoring didn’t stop there, as Bradley Beal had a nice night with 17 points on 7-of-16 shooting and 3-of-4 from behind the arc. Rasual Butler came off the bench and continued his hot outside shooting with 13 points and went 3-of-5 from three-point land. Kris Humphries gave the Wizards some gritty minutes, as he scored nine points and crashed the boards for seven rebounds in 19 minutes of play.

As for the Bulls, Derrick Rose led the way with 19 points but on 8-of-19 shooting, including 1-of-7 from behind the arc, and only had two assists with four turnovers. Jimmy Butler had a rough night, as he scored only 10 points on 2-of-12 shooting, which is well off his season average of 21.7 points per game.

Chicago’s bigs didn’t have as good of night as Washington’s, as Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah combined to score 15 points on 6-of-17 shooting, three of those points were from Noah. They were active on the glass, as Gasol grabbed 13 rebounds and Noah 10 rebounds.

When the Bulls made their runs in this game, it was with the reserves on the court. Aaron Brooks led the way with 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-7 from behind the arc. Tony Snell added nine points, but he also was aggressive defensively as he recorded four steals. E’Twaun Moore and Nikola Mirotic gave valuable minutes, as they both scored six points apiece.

This was a complete annihilation by the Wizards, as the only time the Bulls led was early in the first quarter when they were up 2-to-0. From then on Washington had a stranglehold on the lead, and the closest Chicago came was when they cut the lead to six points late in the third quarter and eight points mid-way in the fourth quarter. Even those runs were short lived, as Washington would quickly respond and get the lead back to double-digits.

The Bulls are always known for their defense, but it’s time for everyone to realize the Wizards are just as good, as they held Chicago to 86 points on 38.6 percent shooting. As for Washington, they were able to score 102 points on 47.7 percent shooting from the field and even better from three-point land, as they went 8-of-15 which is 53.3 percent. The Wizards still maintain atop of the league in three-point shooting.

It’s hard to stop this Washington team when they get on the break, beating the Bulls 20-to-12 in fast break points. They also moved the ball very well as they racked up 27 assists compared to the 16 by Chicago. The Wizards hustled more and played desperate basketball, as you could tell they wanted to make a statement to the league they are formidable and very legitimate.

These two teams face each other next Wednesday in Chicago but before that, the Wizards go on the road to face the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM EST. The Bulls have a quick turnaround, as they head home to face the Milwaukee Bucks tomorrow night at 8:00 PM EST.

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About the author
Parker White
Sports journalist from Midlothian, Virginia. Co-editor and writer for the NBA and MLB sections at VAVEL USA. Follow me on Twitter @spudwhite1022