Gilbert Arenas, Larry Hughes and Antawn Jamison made sure Washington's 17-year drought of a playoff win, as the Wizards defeated the Bulls by a final score of 117-99.

Arenas scored 32 points, while Hughes and Jamison each had 21 and Etan Thomas chipped in 20.

Chicago had six scorers in double-figures, but none scored more than 15.

Ben Gordon's minutes were limited due to illness and he has just 8 points.

Game 4 is on Monday at the MCI Center where the Wizards will try to even the series at 2 game a piece.

Ben Gordon sat out Friday?s practice because he was feeling a bit ill.  Rookie Gordon has been huge for the Bulls against the Wizards and it is very unlikely that he will not be ready for game 3 today.

"I would imagine he'll play," coach Scott Skiles said. "But we didn't see any reason to do anything with him. We let him rest. He's been on medication for a couple of days, so I'm sure he'll be fine for Saturday."

Kirk Hinrich scored 21 of his 34 points in the 4th quarter to carry the Bulls to a 113-103 Game 2 victory, taking a 2-0 series lead.

After trailing by 10 at the end of the 1st quarter, the Bulls outscored the Wizards 38-21 during the 2nd.

Jannero Pargo gave the Bulls a boost in the 2nd quarter, hitting a couple jumpers to lead the charge.

Gilbert Arenas scored 39 points, bouncing back after scoring just 9 in Game 1.  Unfortunately, the Wizards got just 19 points from Larry Hughes, 18 points from Antawn Jamison and 12 points from Juan Dixon and no other scorers were in double-figures.

Wizards? center and future recipient of a mid-level exception contract in this summer?s free-agent market Kwame Brown got a bit of good news last night.  His MRI concluded no structural damage to his bruised knee, an injury he received in the fourth quarter of the Wizards loss to the Chicago Bulls.

Brown practiced with the team today and will most likely be ready for tomorrow?s Game 2.

After the game, Brown was very poetic in his evaluation of the Wizards loss.

"We have to let it hurt," Brown said. "We have to look at tape and see what we did wrong."

Said Brown of the poor shooting night by All-Stars Antawn Jamison and Gilbert Arenas.  ?Those guys are not going to have games like that this whole series, but they have to realize that [the Bulls] are going to key up on them.  They've been called the Big Three [with Larry Hughes] all year. I'm sure all the scouting tapes have been geared toward stopping them. So there are going to be guys like myself, guys like Juan [Dixon] who are coming off the bench that will be able to take the pressure of them. They've got to realize that early and then get it going for themselves late."

Andres Nocioni made his playoff debut in grand fashion, scoring 25 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in 47 minutes of play, sparking the Bulls to a 103-94 win over the Washington Wizards.  The win was the Bulls first since 1998.

Ben Gordon led all Bulls' scorers with 30 points, including 3-5 from 3-point territory.

Larry Hughes had a game-high 31 points to pace the Wizards.  Gilbert Arenas struggled all game long, scoring just 9 points on 3-19 shooting.

Kwame Brown gave the Wizards a very solid game, finishing with 13 points and 9 rebounds before being helped off the court in the final moments with a knee injury.

Despite the fact that he was heavily involved with the Washington Wizards as a player/minority owner/president of basketball operations, Michael Jordan will be rooting for his old Bulls according to Wizards players.

Asked which of the two teams Jordan favors, Washington's Larry Hughes replied, "Oh, Chicago! No doubt."

Jordan, who was fired from the Wizards in May 2003, was responsible for signing Larry Hughes, a player who has had a tremendous impact in Washington.  On the down side, Michael Jordan squandered the Wizards #1 pick in the 2001 draft on Kwame Brown, thought by many to be the biggest bust coming out of the #1 spot, however, he is still considered to be a mid-level exception candidate in the coming off-season according to a recent RealGM poll.

Jamal Crawford made seven 3-pointers and scored 36 points, and the Knicks came from behind to beat the playoff-bound Washington Wizards 113-105 Wednesday night.

``You're only as good as your last game so you definitely want to leave a good impression,'' Crawford said. ``Did you see those fans, how they were cheering? It was like a playoff atmosphere.''

Stephon Marbury scored 20 points and 7 assists.

``The only thing we can do is get ready for next season,'' Marbury said. ``Once we get the mixture of players that can come in here and do the things that are needed to win ball games, I think my game will totally change. I think it will go up as a matter of fact.''

Kwame Brown was disappointed with the Wizards loss at New Jersey, which meant that they would not be having home court advantage versus the Bulls, but he managed to look at the bright side.

"It's been like three games I've been ready to play, but the fans take it upon themselves to boo me when I miss shots," said Brown, who finished 6 of 13 from the field. "I missed [my first] two shots tonight. One was awful; it hit the other side of the rim. If we would've been in D.C., they would've booed; I would've been on the bench. Are you part of the problem or part of the solution? Booing me? Is that going to help out there? That gives the coach the mind-set that [the fans] can control when I play and when I don't."

Brown will be a restricted free agent this offseason.

Washington Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld announced today that the team has activated guard Anthony Peeler and placed forward Damone Brown on the injured list with right shoulder biceps tendinitis.

In his 13th season, Peeler has appeared in 37 games and is averaging 3.9 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 13.4 minutes per game. He was placed on the injured list with right knee tendinitis on April 5. Peeler, who last saw action against Golden State on March 4, has missed the Wizards? last 22 games.

Brown was signed by the Wizards for the remainder of the season on April 11 after signing a pair of 10-day contracts. He has appeared in 14 games this season and has averaged 3.9 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

Drew Gooden sustained a left hip contusion during the second quarter of last night's game at Washington.  

Gooden's injury does not seem to be too serious as he will be a game-time decesion for tomorrow's big game versus Detroit.