After Derrick Rose ignited a late fourth quarter rally that helped the Chicago Bulls stave off John Wall and the Washington Wizards, Rose exaggerated a strut as he came back to the bench.
Rose had just scored six of the Bulls’ eight points in a rally that sent them on their way to their fourth consecutive win, 99-91 over the Wizards on Tuesday night.
Wall led the Wizards with 18 points, while Bradley Beal scored 15 points, Marcin Gortat added 14 points with 11 rebounds and Paul Pierce had 12 points.
In his first meeting with Wall since Jan. 30, 2012, Rose scored 25 points. The Bulls have won all five games when Wall faced Rose.
“Everybody is going to make it a big rivalry,” Wall said. “I know every time I go against any good point guard, it’s going to be a big one. It’s fun to have him back out there.”
Washington scored 12 consecutive points — including 10 from Wall — to take an 87-86 lead with 3:44 remaining. Chicago steadied and answered with those eight points to reclaim a seven-point lead with 1:48 to play.
Pau Gasol had 18 points, including his first 3-pointer of the season, for the Bulls (19-9). Aaron Brooks, Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler also reached double figures in scoring.
“You saw two people go at it tonight, two good teams,” Rose said.
It was the first meeting of the teams this season, though a heated preseason encounter followed a first-round playoff series from the spring, when Washington bounced Chicago following Game 5 of the teams’ best-of-seven series.
Rose missed most of the last two seasons after knee surgery, including those postseason encounters with the Wizards. He’s also already sat out 10 games this season.
“I know where I’m going to be in a couple of months,” Rose said. “You all are going to be the ones that are going to be surprised by the way I’m going to play.”
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