DeRozan can't save Bulls in Washington; LaVine set to return
Nothing DeMar DeRozan does in a Bulls uniform should surprise anyone at this point.
But a second game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer in the same arena was too much to ask. DeRozan leaned back and fired a shot over Washington's Anthony Gill that seemed to be on line and on target, but it just grazed the back rim and bounced out, leaving the Bulls with a 102-100 loss on Friday.
The Wizards took the lead when Bradley Beal hit a tough 6-foot bank shot with 7.4 seconds left. The Bulls rallied from a 17-point deficit in the third quarter and tied the score on a steal and breakaway dunk by DeRozan.
"We kept fighting and battling," Bulls coach Billy Donovan said. "That's what you've got to do when you have tough offensive nights."
Last year, DeRozan hit a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer to beat the Wizards, a day after doing the same thing against Indiana. It was the first time in NBA history anyone hit game-winners at the buzzer on consecutive days.
DeRozan finished with 32 points. Center Nikola Vucevic added 24 and went a career-best 12-for-12 at the foul line. He became the second Bulls center to go perfect with at least 12 free throws. Artis Gilmore went 14-for 14 on Dec. 10, 1977.
Now the Bulls have to turn around and play their home opener Saturday against a Cleveland team that spent Friday lounging with an off-day in Chicago.
Donovan said he expects Zach LaVine to play against the Cavs after missing the first two games of the season due to injury management as he comes back from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in May.
Cleveland guard Darius Garland won't play because of an eye laceration suffered on Wednesday. The Cavs added former Utah all-star Donovan Mitchell, while sending ex-Bull Lauri Markkanen back to Salt Lake in the trade.
The biggest problems for the Bulls on Friday were poor first-half defense and an inability to knock down open 3-pointers at important moments.
The Bulls went 7-for-27 from 3-point range, while Washington was 10-for-26. The Bulls did dominate the free throws 27-10.
"To me it was a game where we struggled to shoot the ball," Donovan said. "They made a lot of tough 2s. They shot it well over us in midrange. I thought us getting to the free-throw line offset some of that. They obviously shot much better than we did from 3."
Coby White drained a 3-pointer from the left side to put the Bulls ahead 42-36 midway through the second quarter. A few minutes later, the Bulls found out the basket was erased by an off-site replay review because White stepped out of bounds.
It was definitely a close call, but there was nothing the Bulls could do but keep playing, and they didn't succeed. Washington scored the next 12 points, which combined with the evaporated 3-pointer, was effectively a 15-0 run.
By halftime, the Bulls were within striking distance at 56-50, but were smacked hard at the start of the third quarter by 3 straight Wizards 3-pointers - two by Kyle Kuzma (26 points) and one from Deni Avdija.
After Ayo Dosunmu fouled Kuzma on a 3-point shot with 4:54 left in the game, Donovan sent Goran Dragic in for the stretch run. Kuzma's 3 free throws put the Wizards up by 9. Donovan also used White as a floor-spacer ahead of Patrick Williams, who had another quiet night.
After DeRozan and Vucevic, the other Bulls to reach double figures were White and Andre Drummond with 10 points each. Dragic, Dosunmu and Williams finished with 7 points each.
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