The Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards are playing Game 3 of their NBA playoffs series on Friday night and the game from the Verizon Center will start up at 8 pm ET and will be streaming from ESPN on TV on the WatchESPN website and comes as John Wall has his team up 2-0 and now Joakim Noah and company will try to rebound.
The first two games of the series were won by the Wizards and now Washington will try and go up 3-0 on the Bulls and that would basically end the series and that is why Chicago will be playing hard to win this game. The team came into the playoffs with the best defense in the NBA and they ranked first overall in points allowed and now they will try and come back from two games down in the series, which their fellow United Center tenants had to do as well, as the Blackhawks and Blues are now tied 2-2 in their series in the NHL playoffs.
The Bulls played tough in the Game 2 matchup that went into overtime and the team got a solid game from DJ Augustin and he had 25 points and seven assists in the game and Joakim Noah had 12 rebounds to lead the way and those two players will be relied on heavily in Game 3. The Wizards are not known for their crazy arena and the team was in the middle of the pack attendance wise and now Wall and Bradley Beal will get the chance to show the city how good they are up close at home.
Washington has now won four games in a row heading into the game and the two teams are matched up fairly even in some stat categories and the Bulls will have to try and hold down Wall and Beal, as they are ranked 30th in the league in scoring by points per game on offense. The loss of Derrick Rose for the year has been tough to deal with once again and now they have the game on Friday before the matchup on Sunday and by Monday the team could be out of the playoffs. Last season the Bulls won over the Brooklyn Nets in the first round and that series went seven games.
The Wizards come in after getting 26 points from Bradley Beal and Trevor Ariza ended up with eight rebounds and seven assists in the game to lead the team and now they are looking to keep things going before the game on Sunday. The team was ranked in the top 10 in scoring defense during the season as well, with the Wizards coming in ninth place at a shade under triple figures. The games on Friday include the Brooklyn Nets and Raptors, while the Houston Rockets will try and avoid the same thing as the Bulls, as they are down 2-0 to the Blazers.
Check here for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards live coverage from ESPN and WatchESPN.