First, Chris Paul. Then Derrick Rose. John Wall has erased a pair of major 0-fers against two of the top point guards in the NBA.
Wall beat Rose head-to-head for the first time Friday night, getting 16 points and 12 assists in a 102-86 win over the Chicago Bulls.
The leader in All-Star votes among Eastern Conference guards snapped his 0-5 record when both he and Rose are on the court. It hasn’t happened often because both have had serious injury problems. But Wall was definitely keeping track — just as he was last month when he ended his 0-6 history against Paul in a win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
“Didn’t I finally beat Chris and Derrick this year?” Wall said with a smile. “It’s a good year. It’s a good start. It’s finally good to beat them.”
Rose was the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft in 2008, and Wall had the same honor two years later. The Wizards beat the Bulls in five games in a contentious first-round playoff series last year, which Rose missed because of a lengthy recovery from knee surgery.
“You can tell he worked on his game,” Rose said. “Tonight, they jumped on us. It wasn’t about the matchup, I would say. They jumped on us pretty quick from the beginning.”
The Bulls missed 20 of their first 24 shots and trailed 30-10 before Tony Snell’s 3-pointer in the final second of the first quarter. It was Chicago’s worst output in an opening period this season.
Rose has been in a horrid shooting slump — 25.5 percent over his previous six games — and he went 8 for 19 and scored 19 points Friday night.
Rose shook his head emphatically — as if to say “No Way!” — after blocking Wall’s attempt at a buzzer-beating jumper at the end of the first half. It would have carried more meaning if the Bulls weren’t trailing by 17 at the time following a Wall-led run.
Rose gets his chance to start a new Wall streak in Chicago next week.
“We know they’re going to hold this in their head,” Wall said, “because we play them again Wednesday.”
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