Faced with the glaring absence of Nene, the Washington Wizards unleashed their most passionate performance of the season Sunday afternoon at Verizon Center. Washington beat the Chicago Bulls, 98-89, to take commanding three-games-to-one lead in their best-of-seven, first-round NBA playoff series.
The Wizards were dealt a huge blow the day before when the NBA suspended Nene for one game after an altercation in Washington’s 100-97 loss in Friday night’s Game 3. Wizards owner Ted Leonsis showed up at Verizon Center for Sunday’s game wearing Nene’s No. 42 jersey and fired up fans showed their support with chants of “Free Nene.”
As the final seconds ran off the clock, Leonsis saw himself on the arena’s jumbotron, raised his hands and pointed both thumbs to the name on the back of his jersey. Fans responded in kind, closing out the game by once again chanting the name of the absent Brazilian big man.
Trevor Ariza made sure the loss of Nene wouldn’t result in defeat as he scored a game-high 30 points and matched Gilbert Arenas’s franchise record for three-pointers in a game with six. Late in the game — after the Bulls had cut a 20-point deficit in half — the usually reserved Ariza let loose after he took a pass from Marcin Gortat and threw down a two-handed dunk to give the Wizards a 95-83 lead. Ariza screamed, shouted and pumped his arms all the way up the court.
Bradley Beal scored 18 points, Marcin Gortat had 17 and John Wall had 15 points and 10 assists to put the Wizards one win away from claiming their first playoff series win since 2005 — and only the third since the team made its last trip to the NBA Finals in 1979.
After the Bulls successfully baited Nene into losing his composure in the fourth quarter of Game 3 — when he head-butted Chicago’s Jimmy Butler and wrapped his hands around his neck — Chicago center Joakim Noah walked down the hallway afterward and mocked his possible suspension by stating that it stunk for Wizards fans. Nene had dominated the Bulls in the first two games and without him in Game 4, Chicago liked its chances of returning for Tuesday’s game tied at 2.
The Wizards remained confident in their ability to win Game 4 without him. They discovered a formula for winning without Nene when he missed 22 games because of a left knee injury late in the season. And Sunday, they used the emotion of his absence to score the first 14 points of the game and never looked back.
Entering the game, the Wizards’ best lineup against the Bulls actually featured Trevor Booker, and not Nene, with the other four starters. That group had shared the floor for just 13 minutes in the first three games, but outscored Chicago 38-19 in that span.
The first four minutes of Game 4 showed that success was no fluke. Ariza hit a three-pointer to give the Wizards a 7-0 lead and Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau called a 20-second timeout. It did nothing to help the Bulls make shots, as the Wizards continued to apply defensive pressure and forced Thibodeau into calling another timeout after Ariza hit his second three-pointer of the game. Ariza’s third three-pointer pushed the lead to 15 and the celebration had already begun among the red towel-waving fans.
Taj Gibson helped the Bulls avoid getting completely obliterated by playing a flawless first half, scrapping for offensive rebounds, drawing fouls and attacking the rim for dunks and layups. He made all eight of his shots and accounted for half of the Bulls’ 40 points in the first half, helping them hang around a game that would’ve otherwise been a blowout.
After a Bulls tip-in and dunk to close within 52-40, Ariza sent the crowd into a tizzy when he hit a three-pointer from the right corner as time expired in the first half.
Gibson scored a game-high 32 points but the Wizards were successful in limiting Mike Dunleavy to just six points after he scored a playoff career-high 35 in Game 3.
Booker had eight points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots starting in place of Nene.