built for failure to get beat by Cleveland making it blatantly obvious Brooklyn wanted nothing to do with the surprisingly hot Chicago team in the past couple months. A scuffling Washington Wizards team moved to the five seed on the the final day of the year to take on the Bulls. Some believed it could be a quick series, but not many saw Washington gaining two wins in Chicago including last night's overtime victory winning 101-99.
Bradley Beal is only 20 years old. He cannot even buy an alcoholic drink legally yet he delivered a great performance in Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs while I at 25 can buy booze and blogs from his bed. Beal showed why people in DC have nicknamed him 'Real Deal Beal' with a 26 point, seven rebound performance as well as making four threes. He also scuffled with Kirk Heinrich without getting thrown out of the game rather showed him, Beal wasn't taking his shit. Beal became the closer a young Washington team needs with him having some of the most clutch baskets of the game making a key three to put the Wizards only down three late plus made a free throw to tie up the game in the final minute. Much attention gets paid to John Wall, and for good reason, but he has maybe one of the best sidekicks in all of basketball with Beal. He looked strong tonight as Chicago had no answer for him late. Another player Chicago had continued troubles with was Nene. He had a monster game on the defensive side of the ball shutting down the likes of Joakim Noah and Taj Gibson on Sunday evening. Tuesday showcased more of his offensive skills as he had six big buckets in overtime propelling the Wizards. Nene finished the game with 17 points including seven rebounds. The biggest jumper probably happened with Wizards up four in the overtime period, and Nene dotted Noah from the mid-range giving Washington the six-point advantage. Even though he hadn't been in the playoffs for the last three years, Nene looked like he was a seasoned playoff veteran out there. It will be interesting to see how Noah and Gibson guard him in the next two games.
One thing that has Washington fanbase breathing a sigh of relief is their free throw shooting did not bite them in the ass. For the team, Washington missed 12 free throws for the game and shot a sparkling 57 percent from the line. The concerning thing for the team is five of those free throws were missed by guards. I realize it is not a given guards should be good free throw shooters, but the hope is if free throws were to be missed, it would be by the big men. Washington is very fortunate their free throw woes did not end up being the difference.
As for Chicago, they can point to the lack of a closer. This was the first time all year where I thought they really miss Derrick Rose. When D.J. Augustin is making the big shots for the team or the reliance of Henrich to make big shots, it might be a problem for this team. Chicago's masquerade of being an average team with a couple good players was quite impressive, but it appears the jig might be up for them. ESPN Chicago's Nick Friedell points out the Bulls only made four field goals in the last 12 minutes of playing time which would be a whole quarter for those wondering, but if we are getting technical, Chicago made four shots in all of overtime plus the final seven minutes of the game. Yeah they don't have one guy to close out a basketball game.
TNT analyst Charles Barkely declared the series over in four games, but we have seen the Bulls bounce back before in the playoffs. Tom Thibodeau is by far and away the best coach in this series and he will make adjustments to find a way for Chicago to steal at least one in the Nation's Capitol. I don't think it's over, but Chicago will be facing a re-energized fanbase thirsty to see a successful Wizards team which will make it a daunting task to take two games.
Charlie.
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