NBA scores 2015: John Wall sends message to Derrick Rose and Bulls, and 3 other things we learned Friday

John Wall was masterful in a showdown between top point guards.

by Liam Boylan-Pett

Jan 10, 2015, 1:00 PM UTC

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

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Derrick Rose had John Wall's number. With both players on the court, Rose's Chicago Bulls were 5-0 against Wall's Washington Wizards. But Friday night, Wall changed that. He went off for 16 points and 12 assists in a dominating night of plays that didn't necessarily fill up the stat sheet. The Wizards outclassed the Bulls, 102-86.

Washington got off to a hot start, and led by 17 points after the first quarter and 18 at the half. The play of Wall had a lot to do with that. He had nine points and eight assists in the first 24 minutes. The Bulls fought to stay close, pulling to within six points with two minutes left in the third quarter, but the Wizards had an answer for every surge, and pulled away down the stretch. Aside from Wall, Marcin Gortat had 21 points and 13 rebounds and Bradley Beal had 17 points, shooting 3-for-4 from beyond the three-point line.

The night belonged to Wall, however. He was superb while outplaying of his point guard counterpart. Rose had 19 points, but only two assists and four turnovers. He shot 1-for-7 from three and was, no surprise, a minus-21 on the night. Wall, meanwhile, was a plus-25 and had just four turnovers compared to 12 assists. Even when he wan’t getting the assist in stat sheet, he was facilitating on the court:

Bullets Forever took a deep look at what happens when John Wall leaves his feet to make a pass, a faux pas of basketball fundamentals. The results were mostly negative -- if the pass Wall is planning to make isn’t there, he has to rush through his next few options while falling to the ground. But, as pointed out in the piece, Wall is also athletic enough to pull off a remarkable pass on occasion.

In the play above, Wall seems to float in the air. The Bulls' interior defense thought he was going to pass to Gortat, Taj Gibson blocked off that option and Joakim Noah moved over to help on Gortat below the basket. But because Wall can stay in the air for what seems like forever, Nene is able to flash open. Once Wall delivers the ball to Nene, Noah reacts, leaving Gortat wide open for a layup thanks to a crisp, quick pass from Nene. Wall's hockey assist won't show up in the box score, but it was beautifully executed, nonetheless.

Wall is masterful with the ball, so masterful that announcer Mike Breen thought he lost the ball on a move where he put so much backspin on what -- at first -- appeared to be a pass ... except that the ball bounced right back into his own hands for a pull-up jumper.

Later, Wall skipped across the court after a Rasual Butler three in a celebration eerily similar to Rose's signature move. Not only did he outplay a point guard he hadn't beaten, he did so emphatically -- and his team did so, too. The Wizards moved into sole possession of second place in the East at 25-11, putting the Bulls a half game behind at 25-12. The East keeps getting more and more interesting, but as long as Wall continues to play like he did against the Bulls, the Wizards will remain in the hunt.

3 other things we learned

The Hawks are still the best team in the East, but the Pistons are good, too. Something had to give in the battle of Josh Smith's former teams, and this time it was the Detroit Pistons' shooting. They took a franchise record 42 shots from behind the arc, and made just 13 of them. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was responsible for 16 of the three-point attempts (including five in the final two minutes), but only made four. The Hawks, meanwhile, shot 10-of-23 from deep, and dominated the Pistons for much of the night. It took a furious rally from Detroit to pull within three points with 1.2 seconds left, but another Caldwell-Pope three-point miss at the buzzer sealed the win for Atlanta. Al Horford had 19 points and 16 rebounds to lead the way. The Hawks not only handed Detroit its first loss since waiving Josh Smith, but they also won their seventh game in a row (and 21st of their last 23). Kyle Korver went 3-for-3 from deep, continuing his ridiculous shooting season.

Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans just won't go away. After dipping under .500 Wednesday, it wouldn't have been a surprise if New Orleans started drifting away from the best of the West. Instead, they handled the Memphis Grizzlies with a 106-95 win Friday. Davis was his usual great self, netting 20 points and grabbing nine rebounds with three blocks, while Jrue Holiday added 23 points and eight assists. Zach Randolph had 11 points and 11 rebounds in his return to the court for Memphis after missing nine games, but it wasn't enough for a team that has lost three of its last four and six of its last 10. At 25-11, the Grizzlies are still near the top of the West, and trading for Jeff Green might help them find their groove again. The Pelicans, meanwhile, keep sticking around. At 18-18, they're just 2.5 games out of the eighth playoff spot in the conference.

Traded players are having an immediate impact. Dion Waiters wasn't great in his first game with the Oklahoma City Thunder (he shot 1-for-9 from the field in a loss to the Sacramento Kings), but he bounced back in the Thunder's 99-95 win over the Utah Jazz with 15 points, including a clutch three to give the Thunder a four-point lead with 23 seconds to play. Waiters was in the game down the stretch while Reggie Jackson was on the bench. Jackson responded by chuckling when reporters asked him if he was surprised he didn't close out the game.

The Cleveland Cavaliers' new faces, meanwhile, were solid in the Cavs' loss to the Golden State Warriors. Timofey Mozgov (who has one of the best Facebook cover photos ever) was solid down low with nine points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes, while J.R. Smith went off, putting up 27 points on 11-for-23 shooting. With LeBron James returning soon, it will be fun to see how he and his new teammates mesh.

Play of the night

The play of the night is usually reserved for game winners, nasty blocks or dunks, but sometimes it goes to a We've Never Seen Anything Like That play. That's exactly what this Trevor Booker shot was. The Jazz were leading the Thunder 48-44 with 1:01 left in the second quarter, but just 0.2 seconds left on the shot clock. So when Gordon Hayward passed him the ball, Booker bumped it behind his back like a volleyball. And it worked. The Thunder should have formed a f***ing wall.