The Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards are hoping this is the first matchup of many between the two teams this season as both are expected to contend for an Eastern Conference title. Right now, the Bulls are looking like one of the more stable teams in the league, while the Wizards are the newcomers impressing many. This showdown will be a battle of the point guards as John Wallace and Derrick Rose go face to face.
Both Rose and Wall come from the same system. Both point guard can credit John Calipari as their head coach both at Kentucky and Memphis. Both players are struggling as of late, but have the ability to be an opponent killer when they are on their shot.
Rose has not exactly impressed lately, something not concerning to him. Rose is currently in a shooting slump, going 25.5 percent in his past six games. He has 110 shots in that span while putting up a league-low average. He has just seven points in the loss to Utah after missing 12 of 15. Chicago as a whole shot just 33.3 percent after having averaged 103.1 points per game prior to this slump. The Bulls are being patient with Rose understands that with the number of injuries he has suffered over the past few years, this is not something that should be shocking or concerning.
Getting his momentum back against the Wizards could be tough. Washington has allowed 88.0 points in back-to-back wins. That is a major improvement from the 108.0 they were giving up on 53.5 field goal percentages. Wall is certainly not in slump. The point guard is averaging 21.7 points over his last six games against the Bulls while putting up 14.0 points overall in his past seven matches. When Wall puts up at least 18 points, the Wizards are 14-2 and they hope that continues against Chicago.
Wall has a lot of expectations. He currently leads all guards for the All-Star game. When the Wizards and Bulls play each other when both he and Rose are healthy, Chicago has won all five.
