A win's a win, moving Bulls closer to playoffs
Style points count for nothing in NBA playoff positioning, so the Bulls' narrow 101-99 victory Monday night over the lowly Washington Wizards can be forgiven - as long as the Bulls saved a better performance for tonight.
Escaping Washington with any kind of win set up an opportunity for the Bulls to close within 1 game of seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings by beating Detroit at the United Center.
The Pistons have been struggling, losing six of their last nine games, and will be missing some players. Rasheed Wallace (calf) and Allen Iverson (back) are out, while coach Michael Curry said top scorer Richard Hamilton is unlikely to play because of a groin strain.
Of course, the Wizards were without some key people, too. Gilbert Arenas and center Brendan Haywood have been sidelined all season, while Caron Butler skipped his sixth game with a hamstring injury and ex-Bull Darius Songaila sat because of a neck problem.
No need to get hung up on the Bulls' lethargic performance, though. Antawn Jamison (34 points, 12 rebounds) is a two-time all-star and most of the other Wizards were contributors on last year's playoff team.
Look at it this way: Monday's game was a 25-point improvement from the Bulls' last trip to D.C., a dreadful 113-90 loss Feb. 27 with President Obama watching from the front row.
Eighth man was key
Tim Thomas was back in the rotation against the Wizards, playing nearly 20 minutes and scoring 9 points. It was easy to wonder if the Bulls wore down in Saturday's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers playing essentially a seven-man lineup.
Thomas buried a clutch 3-pointer early in the fourth after Washington closed within 3 points. A few minutes later, though, he took a nasty tumble over one of the baseline advertising boards and left the game.
One thing the Bulls did well Monday was come up with some big baskets at the right time. After Jamison's personal 8-0 run brought the Wizards within 88-85, Ben Gordon came off the bench to knock down 3 tough shots and send the lead back to 9 with 1:43 left.
Washington came back again, cutting the margin to 98-96 with 29.1 seconds left after a dunk by rookie JaVale McGee. The Bulls answered with possibly their best play of the night as Derrick Rose drew the defenders and found Kirk Hinrich for a cutting lay-in with 8.9 seconds on the clock.
Road nearly over
The bottom line is the Bulls have just three road games left on the schedule.
If they can win the three home games this week against Detroit, Miami and Indiana, a playoff spot will be within easy reach and this 2-point win over the Wizards will be forgotten.