Charlotte Bobcats Status Check:
Record: 11-32
Division: 3-6
Conference: 8-15
Road Record: 5-14
Last 10 Games: 2-8
Streak: Won 1
Last game: 102-101 win over Minnesota
PPG: 95.1 (22^nd)
Opponents PPG: 103.2 (29^th)
Offensive Rating: 102.3 (26^th)
Defensive Rating: 111.0 (29^th)
Pace: 91.8 (14^th)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .460 (30^th)
Turnover Percentage: .132 (5^th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .699 (29^th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .267 (17^th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .242 (2^nd)
Opp. eFG%: .517 (29^th)
Opp. TO%: .133 (23^rd)
Opp. FT/FGA: .194 (9^th)
Leading scorer: Kemba Walker (17.9)

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Charlotte Injury Report:
Byron Mullens: out (sprained ankle)

Overview:
A Friday night win over Golden State looked like a good sign for the Bulls, something that could be built on. They had been struggling at home on the season, just above .500, and the Warriors were coming off wins over the Thunder and Clippers.

The Bulls, somewhat easily actually, took care of the Warriors, which set up the chance to either build on that victory, or slip up as Washington was awaiting them. The Bulls came out flat and opted for the latter. It was just another dip in the up-and-down season that is the 2012-2013 Bulls campaign. They’ve had highs (two wins at MSG over the Knicks and third place in the East without their best player, to name a few), but also some lows (ending Charlotte’s 18-game losing streak, the Suns’ 12-game road losing streak, falling to the Wizards, to name the worst).

If we are going to praise the Bulls for their highs, and beating the Warriors in the commanding way they did was a high, we have to talk about their lows as well. Under Tom Thibodeau it wasn’t often the Bulls came out flat. But this year, it’s happened way too many times. They don’t have their best player, which could be an excuse, but they have shown they can win without Derrick Rose.

These losses are frustrating because the Bulls have shown that they are still a very good team. They proved it against the Knicks, Thunder, Heat, Grizzlies (played them very tough twice) and Warriors. So the problem isn’t talent, it may be effort and focus.

One of the worst no-shows of the season was a home game against the Bobcats, in which Charlotte ended an 18-game losing streak. The Bulls got embarrassed in that one, and should come looking for revenge tonight. Chicago shot 35.1 percent in that loss and managed just 81 points against one of the worst defensive teams in the league. The Bobcats give up 103.2 points per contest.

Joakim Noah was the biggest disappointment, scoring just two points and grabbing four boards in his 30 minutes of action. Carlos Boozer (19 points, 14 rebounds) and Luol Deng (20 points, 12 rebounds) both put in double-double, but pretty much everyone else on the team came up small. Nate Robinson finished 2-11 starting in place of Kirk Hinrich. Marco Belinelli was 3-12 off the bench and Marquis Teague was 2-7. Maybe it was that Hinrich, their leader was missing….they really could have used his 7.0 points per game…(does the math)…nope that wouldn’t have been enough.

Since beating the Bulls to end 2012, the Bobcats are 3-9. They’ve beaten the Pistons, Magic and Timberwolves. They are fresh off that Minnesota win, a game that ended Charlotte’s 16-game home losing streak (it’s good to know the Bulls aren’t the only team that the Bobcats snapped something against). It was a very injured Timberwolves squad, but it counts nonetheless.

Kemba Walker led the way with 25 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, three steals and two blocks. Off the bench, Ramon Sessions was 9-10 from the charity stripe, finishing with 23 points and Ben Gordon scored 18 points. Charlotte scored 50 points in the paint, to 32 for the Timberwolves, and grabbed eight more rebounds (38-30).

The Bulls may get a boost with Luol Deng coming back. Jimmy Butler said after shootaround that he was “glad to have (Luol) back. We’re going to just keep going. Same role coming off the bench.” Deng is officially listed as a game-time decision.

From Stats LLC: The Bulls have won five of their last seven games against teams with winning records by an average of 8.4 points. The bad news: Charlotte is far from a winning record.

Charlotte Bobcats Status Check:
Record: 7-23
Division: 2-5
Conference: 5-9
Road Record: 2-11
Last 10 Games: 0-10
Streak: Lost 18
Last game: 98-95 loss to New Orleans
PPG: 95.6 (20^th)
Opponents PPG: 104.5 (30^th)
Offensive Rating: 102.2 (24^th)
Defensive Rating: 111.8 (30^th)
Pace: 92.2 (12^th)
Effective Field Goal Percentage: .458 (29^th)
Turnover Percentage: .130 (5^th)
Defensive Rebound Percentage: .699 (29^th)
Offensive Rebound Percentage: .272 (16^th)
Free Throws Per Field Goal Attempt: .231 (5^th)
Opp. eFG%: .519 (29^th)
Opp. TO%: .130 (23^rd)
Opp. FT/FGA: .196 (10^th)
Leading scorer: Kemba Walker (18.1)

Stats from Basketball-Reference

Bobcats Injury Report:
Byron Mullens: out (sprained ankle)
Tyrus Thomas: out (torn ligament in calf)

Overview:
The Bulls snapped their two-game losing streak with a victory over the NBA’s worst team, but it was far from a convincing win. Chicago gets another chance to turn things around against one of the league’s bottom feeders as it takes on the Bobcats, who have lost 18 straight games. Chicago went from playing the league’s worst offensive team (Washington) to playing the league’s worst defense (Charlotte) today.

The Bulls’ defense played well against Washington, holding the league’s lowest scoring team eleven points below their average, but Chicago couldn’t get anything going on the other end. The Bulls shot 39.1 percent from the field and finished with only 87 points. Only three starters managed to get in double figures and it took Carlos Boozer 12 shots to get to 15 points and Luol Deng 13 shots to get to eleven points.

Marco Belinelli was the high-scorer for the Bulls, dropping 17 points off the bench. Rip Hamilton scored nine points in his return to the Bulls, after missing 12 games. It was good to see Belinelli made the transition back to the bench well. Marco started the year slowly, but started playing much better in the starting line-up. If he can add 15 points off the bench per game, that would be an enormous addition.

The big difference between the Bulls and Wizards was turnovers. Chicago turned the ball over just nine times, and Washington scored nine points off those turnovers, but the Bulls scored 19 points off of 17 Wizards’ turnovers.

Chicago should be able to score more points tonight, against the league’s worst defensive squad. Charlotte ranks last in opponent points per game (104.5) and defensive rating (111.8). They also rank next-to-last in opponent field goal percentage (.519), defensive rebounding percentage (.699) and effective field goal percentage (.458). Let me do some math quickly…yup just as I thought. All these numbers add up to 18 straight losses.

Charlotte hasn’t won a game since November 24, an overtime win against the Wizards. The Bobcats have actually had a tough schedule over that stretch playing the Thunder, Knicks, Spurs, Clippers, Hawks, Lakers, Warriors and Heat, but also lost to the Magic and Hornets during their streak.

The Bobcats are just 2-11 on the road, and this is their last chance to avoid going winless in the month of December.

They almost got their first win in more than a month against New Orleans, building a 21 point lead in the first half. But they eventually fell 98-95 to the Pelicans. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist did everything he could to get the win, recording 22 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Kemba Walker dropped 15 points to go with nine assists, while Gerald Henderson scored 19.

The Bobcats shot 49.4 percent to the Hornets 42.7 and scored 58 points in the paint to New Orleans’ 32. They also had 27 fast-break points, while the Hornets had zero. New Orleans went 11-24 from beyond the arc to help them pick up the slack in other areas, and pull off the victory.

The Bulls haven’t been playing well lately. Their last good game was ten days ago against the Knicks. Since then they got blown out by the Hawks and Rockets, and played poorly in a win against the league’s worst team. Chicago has games against the Heat, Bucks, Knicks, Hawks, Celtics, Grizzlies, Lakers and Warriors coming up in January. None of those games are going to be easy, and the Bulls haven’t looked good against teams with a lot less talent. Chicago is going to need to play a lot better basketball to keep getting wins, and today can be a jumping off point for that success.