The Chicago Bulls snapped a seven-game losing streak at the expense of the Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
Losers of seven in a row themselves, the NBA-worst Wizards will love nothing more than to return the favor Thursday when the teams reconvene in Washington, D.C.
Rob Dillingham scored a career-high 26 points off the bench to fuel Chicago to a 129-98 rout Tuesday.
The victory realistically does little for the Bulls (30-49), who already have been eliminated from postseason contention.
So, with that in mind, just how important is it for Chicago to finish the season with victories in the last three games?
Well, team president Michael Reinsdorf repeated Tuesday that the Bulls aren’t interested in tanking for a better draft pick. However, that door doesn’t exactly seem closed on the heels of the team dismissing vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley.
“We don’t know where the lottery changes are happening,” Reinsdorf said, per the Chicago Sun-Times. “We know what’s out there and what’s being talked about, but we have to see where the league goes. Once we see where the league goes, that’s really important, understanding that trend. We haven’t always done that. We haven’t always recognized the trends on where things are going.
“Back in 2012 or ‘13, when the 3-point shooting started to increase, if we would have anticipated that more and how it was going to change, we probably would have had different decision-making in some of the players we drafted. So, you’ve got to stay ahead of it.”
Back to matters on the court: Patrick Williams scored a season-high 20 points to go along with seven rebounds and six assists on Tuesday for the Bulls.
“It’s no secret, there was a lot going on outside these four lines here. So, we tried to focus on this game, focus on basketball,” Williams said, referencing the team’s front office turnover. “It’s been kind of a retreat for us to play the game and compete. Try to get the win, and we did that (on Tuesday).”
Bilal Coulibaly scored 19 points for the Wizards (17-62), who have dropped 23 of their last 24 games to guarantee that they will keep their protected first-round pick. Washington could win its final three games and still not fall past seventh in the draft order.
Coulibaly, however, insists there are some positives during this gloom-and-doom season. Case in point, rookies Tre Johnson, Will Riley and Jamir Watkins, with all three showing flashes of improvement during the campaign.
“All the rookies, they’ve been doing a great job just staying with it, working, listening to coaches and all that, doing the right thing,” Coulibaly said, per The Athletic. “I think that’s part of the growth of the team.”
Julian Reese posted 17 points and a team-high 11 rebounds Tuesday for his fourth double-double in 10 games with Washington this season. Sharife Cooper added 17 points off the bench for the Wizards.
“I think the biggest step we took … is the aspect of team camaraderie,” forward Justin Champagnie said, per The Athletic. “We all support each other. We’re all trying to root each other on and building that team aspect from the bottom up, especially with a group of young guys.”
