CHICAGO -- Nene started thinking about how it would all unfold in the middle of the night. No way could he have scripted it any better than this. Nene dominated with 24 points, Trevor Ariza scored 18, and the Washington Wizards rallied from 13 down to beat the Chicago Bulls 102-93 in their playoff opener on Sunday night. John Wall scored 16 in his post-season debut. Marcin Gortat added 15 points and 13 rebounds, and the fifth-seeded Wizards pulled out the victory even though they looked like they were ready to be blown out. They cut a 13-point deficit to one in the third and trailed by three going into the fourth, before outscoring Chicago 18-6 over the final six minutes to come out on top in their first playoff appearance since 2008. "We had a team dinner, and after that, in the middle of the night I started thinking about what Im going to do," Nene said. "How Im going to defend. ... Things like that. Its a good feeling." Game 2 is Tuesday in Chicago. Nene was locked in from the opening tip, dunking on the games first possession and scoring eight points in the first six minutes, and the Wizards turned it on down the stretch. Gortats layup started the decisive run, and Ariza gave the Wizards an 88-87 lead when he hit a pair of free throws with 4:17 remaining. Jimmy Butler tied it for Chicago with one of his own, but a layup by Gortat and basket by Nene made it 92-88, and Washington hung on after Chicagos Joakim Noah cut it to two on a tip-in with 2:11 left. Gortat hit two free throws and added a jumper with 34 seconds left to make it a six-point game, and the Wizards took the early lead in the best-of-seven series. Washington shot 49 per cent and outrebounded Chicago 45-39 with Nene setting the tone inside. He hit 11 of 17 shots and grabbed eight rebounds. Andre Miller came on strong down the stretch, scoring eight of his 10 points in the fourth, and the Wizards pulled this one out even though Wall and Bradley Beal (13 points) combined to shoot just 7 of 25. Kirk Hinrich and D.J. Augustin each scored 16 points, and Butler had 15. But after posting more wins since Jan. 1 than any other Eastern Conference team, the Bulls find themselves in a hole. "There are a lot of things you can do to help your team win. Were capable of playing a lot better," coach Tom Thibodeau said. The Bulls led by 13 early in the third and were up 69-57 midway through the quarter when the Wizards went on a 13-2 run to make it a one-point game. Arizas 3-pointer cut it to 71-70 with 3:32 remaining. Noah answered with a layup and Taj Gibson hit two free throws to make it a five-point game, but a basket by Miller made it a three-point game going into the fourth. "Up 13, we exhaled and they came back," Noah said. "Bad turnovers. They got some easy scores. We got to make our adjustments. This is chess. It isnt checkers." The collapse was surprising given the resolve the Bulls showed all season. They could have easily packed it in after losing Derrick Rose to another season-ending knee injury and trading away Luol Deng. Instead, they dug in, and they were in good shape in this one before everything came apart. The Bulls overcame a 14-point first half by Nene and took a 54-48 lead to the locker room after a strong second quarter. Augustin drove for a three-point play with just over a minute left to finish the first-half scoring and start a 13-3 run that stretched into the third quarter and made it 64-51. "You have to stay in the moment," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. "There will be times in the playoffs where we have to survive and stay in the game with six or seven straight possessions and not score. Both teams can do that. Who is going to stay in the fight when you do that? We did. We had a period where they outplayed us, no question about it. We had to get that back, and in the second half, I thought we did." NOTES: Wall on playing in the post-season: "Its very intense. Ive watched it going to a couple of games, but its a lot different when youre on the court. There was one segment when I couldnt really breathe when I was going up and down the court." ... Augustin hit just 3 of 15 shots but made all 10 free throws. Chicago was 20 of 26 at the foul line, while Washington was 26 of 35. NCAA Jerseys China . The third-ranked Buckeyes were down eight points to Notre Dame with less than 2 minutes to play and their offence was nowhere to be found. Fake NCAA Jerseys . The team reported the signing on its website Thursday, but said Friday the deal was off in "a mutual parting of the ways that had to do with the language of the contract. https://www.chinajerseysncaa.us/. A strong fastball. A big, bending curveball that can buckle hitters at the knees. Against the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, Elias put the entire package together against one of the leagues strongest lineups. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys . - The Washington Redskins have signed free agent offensive lineman Mike McGlynn. Cheap Football NCAA Jerseys . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He has a phone hearing with the department of player safety, which limits any potential suspension to five or fewer games.LONDON -- Petra Kvitova beat fellow Czech left-hander Lucie Safarova 7-6 (6), 6-1 on Thursday to advance to the Wimbledon final and a chance to win her second title at the All England Club. Kvitova, the only player born in the 1990s to have won a major title -- here in 2011 -- improved her record to 25-5 on the Wimbledon grass and shes made at least the quarter-finals five years in a row. "I know how (it feels) when you hold the trophy so I really want to win my second title here and I will do everything I can," Kvitova said. She will play the winner of the later semifinal between French Open finalist and No. 3-seeded Simona Halep of Romania and Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., the 13th-seeded player and only woman to have advanced to all three Grand Slam semifinals this year. It was the first Grand Slam semifinal between two Czech women. It marked No. 6-seeded Kvitovas 15th consecutive win against a left-hander and she beat 23rd-seeded Safarova -- who was playing on Centre Court for the first time -- for the sixth match in a row. "I dont have words to describe my feeling right now," Kvitova said. "It was a tough match mentally, as well, because Lucie is a good friend of mine. We know each (other) very well off the court and on the court, as well." Safarova, the oldest of the four semifinalists at 27, was broken in the first game, the final two points of the game coming with two Kvitova forehand winners to an open corner. But Safarova, who had only four unforced errors in the first set and seven for the match, broke back in the fourth game, and the two stayed on serve until the tiebreaker.dddddddddddd With the score tied at 6-6 in the tiebreaker, Safarovas forehand error into the net gave Kvitova her second set point, and Kvitova converted it with a running cross-court winner, pumping her fist and yelling out. Kvitova broke Safarova, who beat five-time champion Venus Williams in the third round, in the second game of the second set on her third break-point chance, then consolidated it after two deuces in the next game to go up 3-0. She went ahead 4-1 after saving a break point in the fifth game, broke again in the sixth game and then held her serve at love in the final game. She set up match point with an ace and clinched it on a cross-court backhand in 1 hour, 20 minutes. Kvitova saved her best for last: up to 6-all in the tiebreaker, Safarova had won more total points, 40-39. From there, though, Kvitova won 31 of the last 48 points in the match. "I tried to be focused from the beginning of the second set when I won the tiebreak, and really I (broke) her when she was serving for the first time and I just kept it going," Kvitova said. Safarova was playing in her first major semifinal and had been 4-8 at Wimbledon in eight previous tournaments, never advancing beyond the third round. The men had the day off Thursday ahead of Fridays semifinals when seven-time champion Roger Federer plays Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and top-seeded Novak Djokovic plays Bulgarias Grigor Dimitrov. The winners will play Sunday in the final. ' ' '
