The Washington Wizards walked into the United Center on October 24, 2026, and left with a statement. Behind a gutsy road performance, Washington topped the Chicago Bulls 124-120 in a game that came down to the wire. It was the kind of night where momentum shifted quarter to quarter, and ultimately the Wizards found a way to execute when it mattered most.
A Tight Game That Went the Wrong Way for Chicago
This one had the makings of a classic home-court hold for the Bulls. Chicago played well enough to win, finishing with 120 points in a high-scoring affair. But Washington simply would not go away. The Wizards outscored the Bulls by just four points across the full 48 minutes, and that slim margin was all they needed to secure the victory on the road.
The final score of 124-120 reflects just how competitive this matchup was. Neither team was able to pull away for good, and the Wizards deserve credit for staying composed in a hostile environment and finding the winning plays late in the game.
How the XO Sports Model Called This One
Heading into the game, the XO Sports AI model projected a Chicago Bulls win, with a predicted final score of Bulls 122, Wizards 119. The model gave the Bulls the edge at home and assigned a 58.91% probability to the overall game outcome. On paper, the call made sense. The Bulls had home-court advantage, and the model saw them winning a close one.
What actually unfolded was nearly a mirror image. The Wizards scored five more points than the model projected, and Chicago fell two points short of the predicted total. The model was in the right ballpark in terms of the scoring range, but the winning team was reversed. Washington’s ability to close out the game on the road was something the model did not fully account for, and the Bulls came up short in a game they were expected to win.
Transparency matters here at XO Sports. The model missed this one. The pick side was Chicago, and Washington won. That is the reality of sports predictions. No model is perfect, and nights like this are part of the process. The data gets fed back in, the model learns, and the goal is always to improve the next call.
The Edge Pick: A Tough Night on the Spread
XO Sports also flagged an Edge Pick for this game: Chicago Bulls +1.5 PTS at -115 odds. The model gave this pick a 61.96% probability of success, projecting the Bulls to cover or win outright. Given that the Wizards won by four points, the Bulls did not cover the spread, and this Edge Pick resulted in a loss.
It was a rough night across the board for XO Sports in this one. The match prediction missed, and the Edge Pick did not land. That is sports betting and sports prediction in action. Some nights the data lines up with the outcome, and some nights it does not. The important thing is tracking performance over time, not game by game.
What to Watch Going Forward
Both teams now have early-season data to build from. For the Bulls, this loss will sting, especially at home against a Wizards team that many did not expect to compete at this level out of the gate. Chicago will need to shore up its defensive execution down the stretch if it wants to hold leads in close games. For Washington, this road win is a genuine confidence booster and a sign that this team may surprise some people in 2026-27.
As the NBA season continues to take shape, XO Sports will be tracking both franchises closely. Early-season results feed directly into how our model updates and refines its projections, which means every game counts, including the ones we miss.
If you want to stay ahead of the action, visit XO Sports to see our latest AI-powered predictions, Edge Picks, and model insights across the NBA. The Wizards just proved that any team can pull off an upset on any night. Make sure you have the best data in your corner before tip-off.