Andray Blatche will be playing tonight as will Rashard Lewis. Flip Saunders was unsure as to the availability of either player.
The Chicago Bulls return to the Verizon Center tonight for their third tilt against the Washington Wizards. The Bulls have come out on top each of the previous occasions and tonight will mark the first meeting between the two teams in which the Bulls have a full complement of personnel. For the Wizards to get over the hump against an opponent that no other Eastern Conference opponent wants to face in the first round, the Wizards need another poor shooting performance from Derrick Rose (9-21, 8-20 respectively) and an improved performance for JaVale McGee who has been more or less invisible in previous meetings. In fact, the entire Wizards frontcourt will need to step it up as their previous performance against the Bulls has left little to be desired.
A question to pose to the BF community is whether you think the current Wizards team resembles Bill Cartwright's Baby Bulls of previous years or the current incarnation that while experiencing turbulence has shown every indication of being a perennial playoff attendee. The Baby Bulls were a false spring for Chicago and took several years to jettison that youth movement in order to make way for Derrick Rose and the future of Chicago. At first glance, I think the current day incarnation of Bulls bears greater similarity if just for the constant comparisons between Rose and John Wall. Yet part of me believes that for the Wizards to reach the same level of success they will need to make the same tough decisions that the Bulls made regarding Tyrus Thomas, Tyson Chandler ect.
GO WIZARDS!
Wizards Starters
PG John Wall
SG Nick Young
SF Josh Howard
PF Andray Blatche
C JaVale McGee
Inactive: Cartier Martin (!?), Hamady N'Diaye, Al Thornton
Bulls Starters
PG Derrick Rose
SG Keith Bogans
SF Luol Deng
PF Carlos Boozer
C Joakim Noah