Wizards-Bulls Preview

Washington Wizards Status Check:
Record: 16-49
Division: 1-12
Conference: 10-30
Road Record: 1-29
Last 10 Games: 1-9
Streak: Lost 4
Last game: Lost 89-116 to Oklahoma City Thunder
PPG: 96.5 (22nd)
Opponents PPG: 104.2 (22nd)
Offensive Rating: 101.8 (28th)
Defensive Rating: 109.9 (24th)
Pace: 93.9 (9th)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .470 (28th)
Turnover Percentage: .139 (23rd)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .710 (29th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .267 (15th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .211 (27th)
Opp. eFG%: .514 (27th)
Opp. TO%: .142 (8th)
Opp. FT/FGA: .247 (25th)
Leading scorer: Nick Young (17.7)

Stats from Basketball-Reference.com.

Washington Injury Report:
Andray Blatche: strained right shoulder (missed Monday’s game)
Rashard Lewis: right knee tendinitis (missed Monday’s game)
Cartier Martin: right knee tendinitis (missed Monday’s game)

Overview:
It’s strength versus weakness in this one. Or strength versus non-existent part of game. The Bulls have been great at home this year (29-4). And they’ve gotten better as the year has gone on. They haven’t lost a home game since January 18th. That’s eleven in a row at the United Center.

The Wizards are 1-29 on the road this season. Their lone win away from home came at Cleveland on February 13. But that game didn’t change anything. They are 0-4 on the road since that game, and have gone 1-11 overall since they won that titanic showdown (their one win came against the Timberwolves, who were playing on the second night of back-to-backs).

Now the Wizards are coming into Chicago on the second night of a back-to-back set. They lost to the Thunder in Washington last night, and have to make the trip to Chicago and the short turnaround for the game. Washington is 2-15 on the second night of back-to-backs this year. One of those wins was their only road win, against the Cavaliers. Not extremely surprising.

The other win came against the Celtics. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, the Celtics did show up to play that game. And yes it was their normal team. They were short-handed in the center department, with Semih Erden starting (Shaq, Perkins and Jermaine O’Neal were all out), but JaVale McGee isn’t an unstoppable center, so that shouldn’t have been too much of a problem. The four most important starters for Boston played, but the Wiz still won, thanks to a banked-in three pointer in the final minute by John Wall.

That means that the Wizards can beat you, if you overlook them. And Chicago is probably going to be without some big men of their own.

Carlos Boozer is expected to miss his third straight game. The Bulls have gone 13-7 without Boozington this year. Most of those losses came in the first 15 games of the season, which Boozer missed. They went 9-6 without him during that stretch. Since then they are 4-1.

And Joakim Noah was sent home from shoot around earlier today due to an illness. He is a game-time decision for tonight’s game.

The Wizards have their own injury woes. They could be without their second and fourth leading scorers (Blatche and Lewis). Blatche is also their leading rebounder.

The Bulls can take the lead in the Eastern Conference with a win tonight. It will only be a half-game lead, but maybe a sniff will make them hungrier for that top spot. And really, they couldn’t ask for a nicer matchup to get a win. Even without Boozer and (possibly) Noah.

About the Author:
Braedan Ritter was born and raised in Pennsylvania but was swayed by gifts from his aunt to follow the Chicago sports teams. It didn’t hurt that the Bulls had a guy named Michael Jordan playing for them, and the Sixers had…Derrick Coleman. Braedan has stuck with Chicago through thick and thin, and really thin (see: Chicago Cubs). And speaking of Coleman, Braedan is currently a student at Syracuse University.