A night after blowing a game, guard goes off There are a few truths Wizards interim coach Randy Wittman will have to accept as he seeks to help the Wizards carve out an identity. One is that a team in the midst of a rebuild is no match for Derrick Rose on a mission of personal redemption.
One night after Rose missed two free throws that could have given the Bulls a late lead against the Miami Heat — his first fourth-quarter misses of the season — Rose was a man possessed in front of 18,357, the largest crowd of the year at Verizon Center. He scored a season-high 35 points to propel Chicago to a 98-88 victory over the Wizards.
“I was like, ‘Wow,’?” said Wizards forward Trevor Booker, who had 14 points and nine rebounds. “Sometimes I caught myself spectating, just watching him. And some of the shots he hit, just unbelievable.”
Luring John Wall (20 points, six assists) into a one-on-one clash, the NBA’s reigning MVP ducked, dipped and flew to the basket for a pair of daring layups as he connected on six of his first seven shots and finished the first quarter with 13 points.
Rose only had one basket in the second quarter, a jumper he calmly buried with Wall’s hand in his face for a 51-40 lead heading into the break, but Kyle Korver already had done plenty of damage with 11 of his 17 points in the period. Rose then continued to attack in the second half, starting with eight trips to the line and ending with a 3-pointer that left Wall shaking his head, the Wizards down 75-53 and “MVP!” chants echoing through the arena.
“We tried four different things,” Wittman said when asked about his strategies for defending Rose. “The way he played tonight, I don’t know if there’s anything we would’ve thrown out there that could’ve, so did he dice it up? Yeah.”
But Wittman rallied his team to within eight points twice in the final quarter by calling on fullcourt pressure. A 3 from Nick Young (17 points) made it 86-78, but the Bulls (18-5) cut through a trap, with Joakim Noah (14 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists) taking advantage of indecision under the basket by JaVale McGee (16 points, nine rebounds, three blocks) and finding Carlos Boozer (18 points) for easy layups.
McGee intercepted a pass and found Wall for a dunk that cut the lead to 96-88 with 1:15 left, and it was enough for the Wizards (4-17) to walk away without any shame.
“They stayed in the game, and my heart’s out to those guys,” Wittman said. “They’re one exhausted bunch of guys in there right now that left it on the floor. I can’t ask for anything more.”
Both teams played with limited rosters. The Wizards lost Andray Blatche earlier in the day to a strained left calf, while the Bulls played without Luol Deng (left wrist) and Richard Hamilton (sore right thigh).
