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Bulls Fall Again To Wizards

Chicago,  IL (SportsNetwork.com)  - The Washington Wizards' young backcourt of 
Bradley Beal and John Wall have arrived. 

Beal had 26 points and seven rebounds, Wall added 16 points, seven assists and 
five  boards and the Washington Wizards rallied for a 101-99 overtime win over 
the Chicago Bulls to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal. 

Washington overcame a 13-point deficit in Game 1 and a 10-point fourth-quarter 
bulge to force an extra session Tuesday. 

With  the Bulls down two, Kirk Hinrich drove in for a layup and drew a foul on 
Nene with 2.4 seconds left in overtime. Hinrich, though, missed the first free 
throw.  He intentionally  clanked the second freebie off the front of the rim, 
but Trevor Ariza came down with the rebound to seal the outcome. 

Nene  tallied  17 points and seven  rebounds for the fifth-seeded Wizards, who 
took  their first 2-0  advantage in an NBA playoff series since 1982 when they 
swept the New Jersey Nets in the then best-of-three first round. 

They had never gone on the road to win their first two games of a series. 

D.J.  Augustin  netted 25 points off  the bench, Taj Gibson provided 22 points 
and 10 rebounds and Joakim Noah supplied 20 points and 12 boards for Chicago. 

Game 3 is Friday night in Washington. 

"I  think we did a great job of staying calm and composed," Wall said. "We are 
excited  to  head back to DC  and play our first  playoff game in front of our 
fans, who deserve this." 

After  Jimmy Butler sunk  two free throws to stake Chicago to an 87-77 cushion 
with 6:59 to play in regulation, the Wizards closed the frame on a 14-4 run. 

A  Hinrich  jumper gave the Bulls a 91-85 advantage  with 3:53 left, but they 
did not score a point for the next 7:38 of game action. 

Beal  netted the  final  six points  of regulation  for  Washington. After  he 
knocked down a triple, he forced a steal and then got his high-arching floater 
to fall with 1:24 remaining to cut the gap to a point. 

Hinrich  was off the mark on a 3-pointer at the other end and Beal knotted the 
game when he split a pair of foul shots with 52.9 ticks on the clock. 

Gibson  came down with two offensive rebounds on Chicago's final possession of 
regulation,  but  Hinrich and  Augustin both misfired  on their attempts. Nene 
then  won a  jump ball  against Gibson  and Washington  called timeout.  Beal, 
though, came up short on a right baseline fadeaway at the horn. 

"In  the  playoffs, you've  got  to  play for  48  minutes," Bulls coach  Tom 
Thibodeau said. 

Nene scored the first six points of overtime and Washington never looked back. 

Hinrich sunk two free throws to finally end the point drought and pull Chicago 
within 97-93 with 1:15 left. Noah converted a layup with 39 ticks remaining to 
trim  the deficit to 101-97, and Chicago got the ball right back when Wall was 
called for an offensive foul on the ensuing inbound. 

Noah drew a foul and sunk two foul shots to make it 101-99. 

Earlier,  Beal  put in  10 quick  points as the  Wizards raced  out to a 29-12 
advantage  before settling  for  a 31-20  lead following  a  quarter of  play. 
They led 56-49 at the break. 

The Bulls used a 12-3 third-quarter run to take their first lead of the game. 
Augustin's  bank  shot with 4:27  left in the frame  gave Chicago a 67-65 edge 
before Mike Dunleavy capped the burst with a layup for a 69-65 lead. 

Chicago took a 75-70 spread into the fourth. 

                                   Game Notes 

The  Wizards shot  47.5 percent (38-of-80) from the field and 39.1 percent (9- 
of-23)  from beyond the  arc ... Beal was 9-of-20 from the floor ... The Bull
held a 44-22 points in the paint edge. 

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