Tonight, the Bulls, undoubtedly one the league’s worst teams since Derrick Rose’s meniscus injury, travel to Oklahoma City to take on the Thunder, the league’s current best team at 20-4.
The Bulls continued their struggles last night, getting blitzed by the Rockets by 15 in Houston. The Thunder come in to tonight’s game off of a day off following Tuesday’s double-digit road win in Denver against the Nuggets. Oklahoma City has the league’s 4th best defense, which should make this game an absolute nightmare for the Bulls woeful offense. Chicago comes in to tonight’s game routinely struggling to crack the 80 point barrier. Last night, the Bulls had a bit better go of it, scoring 93 points (but only 101.7 points per 100 possessions). That, though, was against the Rockets, who have Dwight Howard, sure, but they struggle to stay disciplined as a team defense and have weak individual defenders outside of Dwight and Patrick Beverley.
The Bulls since Rose’s injury have a Net Rating of -7.7 points per 100 possessions, while the Thunder have a +7.9 Net Rating for the season. Given that the Bulls are on the second night of a back to back and on the road, it’d be shocking if they were able to keep this one within 10 points. Then again, the last time I made a bold prognostication like that, the Bulls came out and blew the doors off of the Heat. I wouldn’t count on that happening again tonight.
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