NBA: Wizards oust Bulls, advance to first semis berth since 2005

CHICAGO - Guard John Wall scored 24 points and capped off his first career playoff series by leading the Washington Wizards to a 75-69 victory over the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on Tuesday (Wednesday, PHL time), clinching the best-of-seven first-round playoff series 4-1.

Washington won a playoff series for the first time since 2005, when it beat the Bulls, and for just the second time since 1982.

The Wizards will face the winner of the Indiana-Atlanta series, which the No. 8-seeded Hawks lead 3-2.

Coming off a one-game suspension for head-butting Jimmy Butler, Wizards forward Nene delivered another strong offensive performance, scoring 20 points. He was nearly automatic on his quick lean-back jumpers in this series.

Guard Bradley Beal added 17 points for the Wizards, while center Marcin Gortat grabbed 13 rebounds.

Chicago shot just 33.3 percent from the field.

Trailing by nine points at the start of the fourth quarter, the Bulls closed within 65-62 on guard Kirk Hinrich's three-pointer. Wall answered with a 3-pointer of his own and later added a fast-break scoop to put Washington ahead 70-62 with 5:23 remaining.

A three-pointer by Butler and jumper from forward Carlos Boozer brought Chicago back within 70-67. After the teams traded points, Washington took more than a minute off the clock when Gortat grabbed or tipped three straight offensive rebounds.

The Bulls finally got it back, but Boozer missed a driving attempt.

After forcing a 24-second violation, Chicago got another chance trailing by three with 22.4 seconds on the clock. The Bulls tried to run a quick-hitter to Butler, who missed a layup attempt.

Chicago could have gotten another chance to tie when guard Andre Miller missed a pair of free throws with 16.2 seconds left, but Nene tipped the offensive rebound back out and the Wizards finished the scoring at the foul line.

The Bulls are no strangers to injury bad luck, with former MVP Derrick Rose missing all but 10 games this season with a knee injury. With 7:51 left in the fourth quarter, forward Taj Gibson was helped off the court after turning his left ankle while trying to block a Wall shot attempt.

Earlier in the second half, center Joakim Noah limped noticeably after appearing to get hit in the right knee by teammate Mike Dunleavy while fighting for a defensive rebound.

Hinrich and Butler led the Bulls with 16 points each. Gibson scored 12 and Boozer 10, with Noah pulling down a game-high 18 rebounds.

The Bulls were focused on getting off to a better start after falling behind 14-0 in Sunday's Game 4. It went OK for a while, with Chicago holding a 10-9 lead midway through the first quarter. But the Bulls went on a cold-shooting streak, hitting just one of their next 15 shots and fell behind 28-16.

Chicago snapped out of its offensive funk and went on a 17-4 run, taking a 37-36 lead on a Noah jumper.

The score was tied 41-41 at halftime, which was a noticeable improvement by the Bulls' defense. In the first four games of the series, Washington averaged 52.5 points in the first half.

The Wizards controlled the third quarter, limiting Chicago to 11 points on 4-of-16 shooting (25 percent). Washington scored seven straight points in the middle of the quarter, opening a 56-48 advantage with 5:13 left on Nene's jumper.

By the end of the third quarter, the Wizards led 61-52 and Chicago was shooting just 32.2 percent as a team. - Reuters


The scores:

WIZARDS 75 - Wall 24, Hilario 20, Beal 17, Ariza 6, Booker 6, Gortat 2, Webster 0, Miller 0, Temple 0

BULLS 69 - Butler 16, Hinrich 16, Boozer 10, Noah 6, Dunleavy 5, Augustin 4, Snell 0

Washington    23-18-20-14
Chicago         15-26-11-17