The Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls are playing live on the NBA schedule on Sunday and the game from the United Center is on ABC and ESPN3 from the WatchESPN website as Derrick Rose, Pau Gasol, Dwyane Wade and Luol Deng matchup starting at 1 pm ET.
The Bulls come into the matchup after a much needed win against the Dallas Mavericks and that snapped the team out of a slump where they lost six of eight. The Bulls are first in the central division, but the Cavaliers have been much improved and they are expected to be in the mix until the end of the regular season. The Bulls are 29-16 on the season and they now host the Heat before the start of a very tough road trip.
The Warriors are the first team on the trip and they have lost just one game at home and now the Bulls will try and keep things going out west. Rose comes in after putting in 20 points in the win against the Mavericks, while Gasol had 16 rebounds. Jimmy Butler had six assists and he comes in having a great season while leading the Bulls in scoring. The team defense has not been as good as last season, but the offense has been much improved, ranking in the top 10 in the league.
The Bulls are ranked fifth in the league in rebounds per game and the Bulls are looking to take care of business at home before heading into the roadie. Miami comes in after a close win against the Indiana Pacers and they will next host the Bucks after playing against the Bulls. Miami comes in with 19 wins this season and they are third in the southeast division behind the Wizards and Hawks, who are the two best teams in the east this season.
Miami comes in playing very well on defense, ranking second in the league in points per game, but the offense has been lacking since LeBron left. The team comes in ranked 28th in scoring this season and 30th in rebounds per game and they are still in the mix in the conference standings, but not in the division race. Luol Deng led the team in scoring against the Pacers and now he comes in against his old team in Chicago.
The Bulls held a meeting to try and snap out of a slump and that helped end things after losing six of eight games over a two week stretch. The team had been allowing a ton of points on offense during that stretch and now they come in with Gasol grabbing over 30 rebounds in the past two games and that should help with Joakim Noah returning to action. The Bulls have the rebounding advantage over the Heat and that could be the biggest key in this matchup.
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