Chicago Bulls star guard Derrick Rose talked about wanting to "go crazy" against the Washington Wizards after a demoralizing loss to the Miami Heat on Sunday, and the reigning MVP was a man of his word. Rose scored a season-high 35 points and finished with eight assists, three blocks and two steals in his matchup with Washington's John Wall to help lead Chicago to a 98-88 victory at the Verizon Center. The win improves Chicago to 18-5, while Washington falls to 4-17.
Chicago led wire-to-wire and were up by as many as 22 points, but Washington outscored Chicago 29-22 in the fourth to make the final look more respectable. Aside from Rose, three other Chicago starters reached double-figures in scoring. Carlos Boozer had 18 points on 9-of-16 shooting and also grabbed eight rebounds. Kyle Korever hit four first half three-pointers to finish with 17 points and five rebounds in his spot start for the injured Luol Deng. Joakim Noah had 14 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assists. It was Noah's fifth straight double-double.
Wall led the Wizards with 20 points and six rebounds.
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