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Bulls pay tribute to former teammate Hinrich

The Bulls surprised Kirk Hinrich with a video tribute during the first timeout of Saturday's game. After seven seasons with the Bulls, Hinrich was basically given to Washington on draft night to clear more salary-cap room.

“I'm not really one for that, but it means something that they appreciate the type of player I was,” he said.

Former teammate Luol Deng supported the video, saying, “I think the little tribute they did for him, I thought that was great. Kirk was great here for us. Playing with him, the past six years, I really appreciated him.”

Hinrich had a quiet night for three quarters against the Bulls, scoring 7 of his 8 points in the fourth. He didn't take a shot until shortly after halftime.

Hinrich already visited the United Center in the preseason, which made Saturday's game slightly less awkward.

“It's a little weird,” he said of being a visitor in Chicago. “Preseason, it was really weird sitting in the other locker room. The main thing is just trying to focus on basketball. I've talked to a bunch of people and everything like that but still have to compete. It's a big game for us.”

One of the reasons the Wizards wanted Hinrich was to provide leadership for a young roster. The veteran guard, who turns 30 on Jan. 2, admitted that task has been difficult.

“It's a little tougher, just from the standpoint of coming in and being asked to do that,” he said. “I felt like here, I was kind of gradually put in that position. It's a challenge. But every day we're trying to get better.”

In the second half, Deng and Hinrich got tangled up on a rebound and Deng hit the deck along the baseline. After the game, he was willing to forgive.

“It's basketball. It's going to happen,” Deng said with a smile. “I've got love for Kirk.”

Hollow highlight:

The Wizards made some noise in the second quarter when center JaVale McGee finished an alley-oop dunk off a pass from John Wall, then snarled at Bulls guard Kyle Korver, who tried in vain to deflect the pass.

The basket brought the Wizards within 38-37 with 4:06 left in the first half. Korver dusted himself off and found Omer Asik for a dunk on the next possession, the Bulls tacked on a couple of fastbreaks and finished the first half with a 12-5 run after the highlight dunk.

“You definitely get fired up,” Korver said. “Coach called that floppy down for me. So I got to come off a couple screens and make a pass. You just want to come back at somebody when something like that happens. Yeah, I think it did get us fired up a little bit.”

Bull horns:

The Bulls held a substantial 34-8 advantage in free-throw attempts against Washington. … Luol Deng will host a Thanksgiving dinner for approximately 700 on Sunday at the Pacific Garden Mission on Canal St. in Chicago.