Tonight at 9:30 p.m. the Chicago Bulls will try to even their first round seris with the upstart Washington Wizards at one game apiece in the United Center, and avoid a two-game deficit with a trip to Washington D.C. looming. Watch tonight's Game 2 action on TNT or live stream it free by clicking this link. Bulls fans can listen to the game on ESPN 1000, while Wizards fans can follow along with the radio broadcast on WFED-AM 1500.
The Bulls are known to be expert practitioners of bully ball in the modern era, but Washington's big men fought back in Game 1. Nene lit up the Bulls frontcourt for 24 points, while Marcin Gortat pulled down 14 boards in an impressive effort. "I think we can surprise a lot of teams, if you play the right way," Nene said.
The Bulls didn't seem shocked by how well Nene played, as Mike Dunleavy Jr. discussed Nene's brute strength on the interior. "He's as strong as they come down there on the block," Dunleavy Jr. said. "And he's long, too. Presents a lot of problems."
The loss was doubly troubling for Chicago, because they were actually able to control John Wall and Bradley Beal in the series opener, yet still took a loss. Dunleavy put a positive spin on the game, but he could be grasping for straws.
"I like to think we just did a good job on those perimeter guys and didn't do a good enough job on the other two and hopefully we can flip that," Dunleavy Jr. said.
Offensively, Chicago's reliance on point guard D.J. Augustin hurt them as the in-season pickup shot a putrid 3-of-15 from the field. While he's been a boon to them all year long, matching stars like Wall and Beal is risky business. Head coach Tom Thibodeau refused to heap the loss on Augustin's shoulders though.
"To put it on one guy, that's not how we do it here," Thibodeau said. "I could go from start to finish. There are things we didn't do correctly, we're capable of doing much better and we're going to have to."
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