The Chicago Bulls play the Washington Wizards on Friday. Tipoff is at 8:00 p.m. ET. Watch the live stream or listen to the radio broadcast via the links provided below.
Derrick Rose versus John Wall is the key matchup to watch Friday night. Rose is on the comeback trail while Wall is emerging quickly as one of the league's premier point guards. More important than the individual matchup, though, is how these two teams play each other in their second meeting of the season.
For Washington, game's importance is two-fold: It's retribution after losing their first meeting on Dec. 23 to Chicago, and it's a potential playoff preview
"It's a statement game when we play these type of teams," Wall said, via ESPN. "Compared to last tear in the playoffs, we know they've had an edge and wanted to see their team completely healthy."
Washington (24-11) edged Chicago in the first round of last season's playoffs, but it was a different Bulls team then: their roster was depleted by injuries, and there was no Rose.
Chicago (25-11) has Rose back, but he's still not back to his 2011 MVP form.
"When you get away from that competition for 2 1/2 years, it doesn't come back in a week," said Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau. "You have to compete in practice, you have to compete getting yourself ready and you have to keep going."
One positive this season for Rose, who's averaging 16.8 points and 4.9 assists per game, is he no longer has to carry the team. Joakim Noah appears to be healthy this season as he continues to anchor the defense, and the emergence of Jimmy Butler, who leads the team with 21.7 points per game, takes some of the offensive pressure off of Rose.
Watch the live stream HERE, or listen to the radio broadcast HERE (CHI) and HERE (WAS).
