6 takeaways from the Chicago Bulls’ 115-111 win over the Washington Wizards, including a powerful finish from the team’s Big Three

The Chicago Bulls snapped a three-game losing streak Wednesday with a 115-111 win over the Washington Wizards.

The win improved the Bulls record to 10-14 as they maintain their position at 12th overall in the Eastern Conference.

Here are six takeaways from the win.

The Bulls have been missing complete games between their three veteran starters — Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević. But the trio fully delivered against the Wizards, stepping up to take over the fourth quarter and close out the win.

LaVine finished with 25 points and five assists, DeRozan tallied a team-high 27 points with four assists, and Vučević added 25 points and 11 rebounds. Most importantly, the trio showed their ability to command the final minutes of a game.

Only one other player — Derrick Jones Jr. — scored in the fourth quarter for the Bulls, and only the trio scored in the final 7:50 of game time. LaVine and DeRozan combined for 28 of the Bulls’ fourth-quarter points while Vucevic added five points.

“Our teammates trust in us, giving us the confidence they’re going to follow us,” DeRozan said. “We’ve got to take on that challenge every single night. It starts with us setting the tone and we tried to come out tonight and get into a groove.”

The Bulls aren’t a 3-point shooting team and they’ve spent most of this season being thoroughly outscored from behind the arc. But their ability to keep pace with the Wizards from long-range allowed the Bulls to make up for other mistakes down the stretch.

Neither team shot well from behind the arc in the first half — the Wizards finished the period 2-for-15 from 3-point range while the Bulls went 4-for-12. But for the Bulls, managing to outshoot any opponent from behind the arc is a rare win.

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That advantage became critical in the fourth quarter, when LaVine and Vucevic combined for four consecutive 3-pointers in the span of two minutes to clinch the Bulls lead. The Bulls narrowly outscored the Wizards 30-27 from behind the arc, shooting 43.5%.

Clinching close games has been a frustrating weak spot for the Bulls, but Wednesday’s win improved the team to 3-8 in clutch situations on the season. The Bulls came back from a two-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull ahead by as many as six points in the final five minutes.

As the Bulls continue to progress through the season, they’ll need to be able to pull out tight games like this one. The Bulls have yet to enjoy many comfortable wins this season, and that pattern is likely to continue until they’re able to address key issues like their lack of 3-point shooting.

Despite the positive score line, the Bulls continued a worrisome trend from their loss in Sacramento in Wednesday’s win — giving up too many points through unforced errors.

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The Bulls coughed up the ball nine times in the second quarter alone, finishing the game with 19 turnovers. After taking a lead out of the first quarter, a sloppy second quarter vacated any advantage the Bulls held leading into the second half.

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The Wizards scored 28 points — nearly a quarter of their total offense — off turnovers. The Bulls were partially redeemed by equally sloppy play by the Wizards, which resulted in 18 turnovers. But the Bulls didn’t capitalize nearly as efficiently on those opportunities, scoring only 15 points off turnovers.

Patrick Williams took advantage of returning to the starting lineup after Javonte Green was held out due to a right knee injury. While Donovan made it clear before the game that Green will start lineup when he’s healthy,; Williams continued to make his case with Wednesday’s performance.

Williams scored 11 points on 5-for-8 shooting and grabbed three rebounds in the win. Although he continues to fade in second halves, this isn’t necessarily a problem for the Bulls, who often rely on their Big Three to power through late. Even if he remains in the secondary group, Williams’ growth is a key for the team this season.

The Bulls needed this win.

Before this game, they logged three straight losses on the road and went 3-8 in their last 11-game stretch. Despite logging big wins over teams like the Boston Celtics and the Milwaukee Bucks, the team’s inconsistent nature had begun to feed into frustrations throughout the roster.

Falling into a four-game losing rut could have sunk the Bulls into dangerous territory. Now, the team can reset to look ahead to a very winnable December featuring mostly sub-500 opponents.

Despite producing a losing record, the margin is still fairly thin in the East. The Bulls currently sit 2.5 games back from the top third of the conference, making their situation less dire than it felt at the end of the West Coast road trip.