Washington Wizards Trail Chicago Bulls at Halftime, 65-62

Our halftime update live from the Washington Wizards' final home game of the year. Hosting the Chicago Bulls.

Mar 25, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Washington Wizards forward Tristan Vukcevic (00) looks on / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Washington Wizards are limping to the finish line and are hosting the Chicago Bulls to close out their home schedule in the 2023-24 NBA Season.

For their final appearance at Capital One this year the Wizards rolled out a starting lineup featuring Deni Avdija and Corey Kispert at the guard positions, Johnny Davis and Patrick Baldwin Jr. listed as the forwards, and rookie Tristan Vukcevic at center.

Chicago brought a starting lineup featuring guards Coby White and Onuralp Bitim, forwards Dalen Terry and Torrey Craig, and center Javonte Green with them into Washington.

Guards Tyus Jones and Jordan Poole were ruled out ahead of the matchup with rookie guard Bilal Coulibaly and forward Kyle Kuzma among the inactive players for the Wizards.

Shorthanded has become the norm in Washington this NBA season, however, so the home crowd on fan appreciation night still came in with an expectation of seeing their squad compete.

Vukcevic got working early scoring the first nine points of the game for the Wizards heading to the charity stripe three times in the first two minutes and draining a three-point field goal in the process.

The rookie also notched a block on Chicago's White leading to a transition basket scored by Davis on the other end as Washington opened up an 11-point lead to start the game.

As the Bulls looked to fight back the Wizards turned to the three-ball to maintain and even expand their lead, pushing it out to 16 points at it's highest point in the first quarter. As we've seen many times this year, however, the advantage eventually faded and by the end of the opening quarter the Bulls trailed Washington by just six, 40-34.

With about five and a half minutes left in the half the Bulls took their first lead of the game and held it until halftime, finishing the second quarter with a 65-62 lead.

At halftime Washington has been competitive, led by Vukcevic in points with 12 points but will need to find an answer to Chicago's response after being outscored by nearly 20 points after holding a 16-point first-quarter lead.