Wizards vs. Bulls preview: Washington tries to get in the Summer League win column against Chicago

Game Info

When: Tuesday, July 11 at 6 p.m. ET
Where: Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada
TV and streaming: CSN Mid-Atlantic, NBA TV, ESPN 3

What to Watch for

Who comes out more desperate?

The Wizards and Bulls both enter Tuesday’s game 0-2 in Summer League action, but those 0-2 records look quite different once you get into the details.

Both of Washington’s losses came in the closing minutes. They’ve lost both games by four points or less. Chicago, on the other hand, has lost both of their games by double-digits. They lost by 16 to Dallas on Saturday, and then lost by 20 against the Hawks on Monday in a game where the Bulls only scored 55 points. They shot 16-73 from the field (21.9 percent) and 4-35 from deep (11.4 percent).

After coming so close in their first two games, you’d think Washington will want to come out fast and put this one away early, but at the same time, Chicago will be motivated to avoid another embarrassing loss. Surely, the Bulls don’t want to be remembered as the team that went from being 2016 Summer League champions to winless in 2017.

This is also both teams’ last chance to improve their seeding before the tournament round starts on Wednesday. Neither team is going to earn a first round bye at this point, but the winner will be in a much more favorable position going into the tournament.

The other thing to keep in mind here is tiebreakers for the tournament are determined in part by how many quarters a team wins in the preliminary round. Even though the Wizards have only lost their first two games by 7 points, they’ve only won two of the eight quarters they’ve played. A convincing win here would help things a lot.

Most Likely Wizards Killer (YES WE’RE STILL DOING THIS FOR SUMMER LEAGUE): Lauri Markkanen

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Just look at this guy. He’s probably gonna go for 50 in this one.