Julian Phillips scores a career-high 23 points and Bulls rout Wizards 119-89
Julian Phillips scored a career-high 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting, Nikola Vucevic finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists and the Bulls beat the Washington Wizards 119-89 on Friday night at the United Center.
Matas Buzelis added 20 points and Coby White scored 16 with nine rebounds for the Bulls.
Justin Champagnie led the Wizards with 22 points and 14 rebounds and rookie Bub Carrington had 18 points and a season-high 11 assists. Tristan Vukcevic scored 17 points and Kyshawn George 10.
The Bulls are ninth in the Eastern Conference and will play a loser-out home game against the 10th-place Miami Heat in the play-in tournament on Wednesday on ESPN.
Takeaways
Wizards: Washington had one of its worst games of its NBA-worst season. The Wizards lost by at least 30 points for the eighth time.
Bulls: Chicago won for the fifth time in six games, despite guard Josh Giddey sitting out with a right hand injury. Giddey joins a select few Bulls — including Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen — to reach 1,000 points, 500 assists, and 500 rebounds in a season.
Key moment
Kevin Huerter hit a 3-pointer about 2½ minutes into the second quarter to give the Bulls a 34-32 lead, and they never trailed again. They dominated the rest of the quarter and led 58-43 at halftime.
Key stat
The Bulls hit 20 of 22 from the free-throw line, where the Wizards made 9 of 12.
Up next
The Bulls head to Philadelphia to play the 76ers on Sunday — the last day of the regular season — and the Wizards take on the Heat in Miami.