Chicago Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich had a night to forget and the Washington Wizards sealed a 101-99 overtime win on Tuesday.
Hinrich missed a chance of tying the game with 2.4 seconds remaining, but he missed two free-throws attempts, which could have forcing a second overtime and Washington could not afford extra five minutes without three of their starters.
Centre Nene Hilario had fouled out, and John Wall and Bradley Beal had five fouls apiece.
After missing his first free-throw, Hinrich deliberately missed the second in order to grab an offense rebound and attempt a shot, but Wizards Trevor Ariza grabbed the rebound to wrap the triumph for Washington.
Beal led all scorers with 26 points, and Washington improved their playoffs first-round series to a 2-0 lead.
They host Chicago on Friday for Game-3 at Verizon Centre arena in Washington DC.
The Wizards last won the first two games of the first round in 1982, and Beal says they are playing for something bigger.
“We have got a sense of urgency,” Beal said.
Despite the two games advantage John Wall, who contributed 16 points for the Wizards, says there is a long way to go, warning his Wizards teammates about the need to keep “the team effort” and play as if they were 1-0 down.
“We are still the underdogs, we need to get better than game 1 and 2,” Wall told a postgame presser.
Nene, who had a tremendous performance in the series opener, scored six of his 17 points in overtime, and Washington successfully bounced back from a 10-point deficit to seal a crucial home-court advantage.
Joakim Noah, along with Hinrich was the only starter to score in double figures for Chicago.
Noah, the newly vote Defensive player of the Year, contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds s, while Hinrich added 12 points for the Bulls.
D.J Augustin came off the bench to lead Chicago with 25 points, and Taj Gibson followed suit, adding 22 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
Just like in Game-1, Chicago led in fourth quarter before falling short.
What the mentality is like for next game? “Just win the game,” responded Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau
