New York: Washington’s Emeka Okafor dominated inside as the improving Wizards stunned the Chicago Bulls 86-73 to record their fifth straight home win yesterday.
At 11-31 Washington have the second worst record in the NBA, ahead of only Charlotte (11-32), but turned the tables on joint Central Division leaders Chicago (26-17) behind Okafor’s 15 points and 16 rebounds.
It was the seventh win in 10 games for the Wizards, who started the season 0-12 and lost 28 of their first 32 games.
“We have just gotten better at our new recent style of play,” Okafor told reporters.
“These last few past games we have been playing extremely good basketball both on the offensive end moving the ball and the defensive end moving around. ...
“We are the team that we thought we were supposed to be.”
Nene added 16 points and John Wall 15 for Washington.
Only reserve Nate Robinson finished in double figures for Chicago, collecting a game high 19 points.
The Wizards went on an 11-0 run late in the second quarter to establish a six-point halftime lead, before a 10-2 spurt to start the third put them firmly in command.
Chicago scored only 11 points in third, their lowest output in any quarter this season, and had more turnovers (six) than field goals (three) in the quarter.
Bulls center Joakim Noah narrowly missed a triple-double, collecting 17 rebounds and 10 assists and nine points.
“We got beat by a team that played harder than us,” Noah said. “They played really well and we played tired basketball. Our offense wasn’t as fluid.”
Meanwhile, Portland forward Nicolas Batum notched the second triple-double of his NBA career yesterday to lead the Trail Blazers to a 101-100 victory over the slumping Los Angeles Clippers. The Blazers handed the injury-hit Clippers their fourth straight defeat, matching Los Angeles’ worst skid of the season.
The Clippers were clearly feeling the continued absence of Chris Paul, who missed a third successive contest with a bruised right kneecap. He has missed a total of six games this campaign with the same injury.
“Chris is our closer,” Clippers head coach Vinny Del Negro said.
Portland’s French import Batum, who posted his first career triple-double in a loss to Washington on Monday, had 20 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.
Damian Lillard scored another 20 points for the Trail Blazers, who have won two straight after a six-game slide.
The Clippers, who had won 24 of 27 contests before their current slump, appeared to have turned the tide when a Lamar Odom dunk gave them a 100-91 lead with 2:38 remaining.
But Portland, who have won two straight after a six-game losing streak, closed out the contest with 10 unanswered points.
“We’ve got to learn from it,” Del Negro said.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow. We had an opportunity to steal this one, and we couldn’t convert down the stretch.”
Jamal Crawford had a last chance to get the win for Los Angeles, but his jump shot over Batum bounced off the rim.
“I’ll take that shot 10 times out of 10, and I’ll make it nine times out of 10,” Crawford said.
“That’s just the one I missed.”
Agencies
