(Wednesday, January 11th)

Final Score: Chicago 78, Washington 64

Chicago, IL (Sports Network) - John Lucas III got the start in place of the injured Derrick Rose and made the most of the opportunity, recording career- highs of 25 points, eight rebounds and eight assists as the Chicago Bulls downed the Washington Wizards, 78-64.

Rose missed the game with a sprained toe and is day-to-day with the injury.

"I'm extremely proud of him," Bulls forward Carlos Boozer said of Lucas. "He's been kind of waiting for his turn to get his chance to do his thing, and he got his chance tonight and played really well for us."

Kyle Korver added 14 points to go along with Luol Deng's 12 points and 15 rebounds as Chicago improved to 4-0 at home this season.

Jordan Crawford paced the Wizards with 14 points, while John Wall added 11 points, eight assists and five boards.

Washington entered the second half trailing by a score of 45-37, but opened the third quarter with a 14-4 run to take its first lead since the first quarter.

But the Bulls recorded the next six points to retake their lead and held a 57-53 advantage going into the fourth quarter, which Chicago dominated with its defense, holding the Wizards to a 17.6 percent shooting performance from the floor as the Bulls ran away with the game.

Chicago shot 42.9 percent in the final frame and scored the last nine points of the game after a Trevor Booker jumper brought the Wizards within four at 69-64 with 5:02 to play.

"We gave ourselves a chance. We just went into a slump where we couldn't make shots," Wall said.

Neither team led by more than four points in the first quarter as each team traded buckets, and Chicago held a 43-31 lead with 2:55 remaining in the second before the Wizards closed out the half with a 6-2 spurt to get within eight.

Game Notes

Washington has lost eight straight on the road dating back to last season...Washington's JaVale McGee had 10 points and 14 rebounds...Chicago held a 62-46 advantage in rebounds and outscored Washington, 40-30, in the paint.

01/12 00:29:03 ET