The Chicago Bulls are coming back after losing Derrick Rose for all of last season and the former MVP has looked very good in the preseason and so far the team is undefeated and they will put that on the line at Intrust Bank Arena against the Oklahoma City Thunder at 9:30 PM on Wednesday in a game that will air live on ESPN and will stream on Watch ESPN.
The Bulls won 45 games last season and were able to get past the Brooklyn Nest in seven games, but without Rose they were not a match for the Miami Heat and now they come back looking even stronger as they try to knock the Heat off. Rose is an MVP favorite and the Bulls have made some solid moves, including adding Mike Dunleavy to a roster that has Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer and Jimmy Butler, while Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng are expected to be back at full strength. The team ranked 29th in points scored last season but were in the top five in scoring defense and that will be a focus once again this season.
The Bulls are 6-0 during the preseason while the Thunder are 4-2 so far and the team is heading towards the opener against the Miami Heat with high expectations, as an early win could set the tone for the season, especially with Miami getting honored in their first game with their championship banners. According to eSPN.com, Joakim Noah and Hinrich will not be in the lineup against the Thunder and there is a chance they could miss more time going forward, as head coach Tom Thibodeau said that Noah is not where he needs to be yet and that his conditioning is getting back to where it should be, while Hinrich is dealing with concussion issues after playing against the Pacers.
Rose has looked like his old self this preseason and he had 24 points in just 27 minutes against the Bucks and he has played 80 minutes in the last three games, a promising sign after recovering from a serious knee injury. The Bulls opened the preseason with a win over the Indiana Pacers before a blowout against the Memphis Grizzles and after a close game against the Washington Wizards, the team easily handled the Detroit Pistons before defeating the Pacers again. The team won against the bucks and will now play the Thunder and then the team has the Denver Nuggets to finish things out.
The game on Wednesday will be at the Intrust Bank Arena at 8 pm and will be on ESPN and Watch ESPN and after opening the regular season against the Miami Heat, the team will play against the New York Knicks in a very anticipated matchup.
