The Bulls let a 13-point lead slip away Sunday night on home turf for a 102-93 loss in Game 1 of the first-round matchup against the Wizards.
"We're not happy with the result tonight, a disappointing loss at home in front of the home crowd," Bulls center Joakim Noah said. "But we'll bounce back."
The Bulls will get that chance Tuesday when the two teams meet again at the United Center. This series marks the third time the Bulls have faced Washington in the playoffs. The first was in 1997 when the Bulls swept them and went on to win their fifth championship title. The other time was in 2005 with the getting Bulls knocked out in the first round in six games.
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In Sunday's game, the two teams were neck and neck for at least the first three quarters.
"The third quarter, we did some good things to get that lead," coach Tom Thibodeau said. "If you let your guard down...the lead was gone very quickly."
In the fourth quarter, the Wizards scored 30 points - nearly double the points than the Bulls' 18 points that quarter.
"We just missed shots," Bulls forward Jimmy Butler said. "We can't let them get as many offensive rebounds. All our mistakes that we made tonight are correctable."
While Washington out-rebounded Chicago, the Bulls were able to shut down guards John Wall and Bradley Beal to 7 of 25 combined shots.
"We just didn't keep the intensity up. They got some momentum and that really hurt," Taj Gibson said.
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