The Chicago Bulls have turned things around after a slow start and while they are chasing the Pacers in the central, they now are in second place and they will hit the road on Thursday for an NBA on TNT channel game starting up at 10:30 PM from the Pepsi Center against the Denver Nuggets.
The Bulls are now 6-3 on the season and they will go up against a Denver team that has won four of 10 games and they are starting up a road trip heading out west, as the Bulls play the Nuggets before a matchup at the Moda Center with the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday and that should be a tough game, as the Blazers have started with one of the best records and they have 10 wins already early on. The Bulls have been one of the best defensive teams in the league and Derrick Rose has started to look better and better as he gets back to full strength and even though the team will be without Jimmy Butler for this road, trip, the club is feeling confident as they hit the road, as they got a nice win at home against the Charlotte Bobcats, who were also off to decent start this season.
The team got 21 points from Luol Deng in the matchup and 17 rebounds from Carlos Boozer and now they head into the matchup with the Nuggets ranked 24th in the league in scoring with 94 points per game, while they are ranked second in defense with under 90 allowed per contest. The Bulls won 45 games without Rose last season and now they head into the road trip three games back against the Pacers in the division and they will have to pick up the slack, as Butler is expected to be "week to week" with his toe injury and that means more minutes for Kirk Hinrich as well as Mike Dunleavy.
Butler had started off the season very well while putting up some career numbers with 11 points and five rebounds per game and he also was stealing nearly two balls per game and that has been huge for the team. Tom Thibodeau has not set the starting lineup yet with Butler out, but he expects that both players will get some extended minutes and they could alternate the lineup depending on who the team is playing.
The Nuggets come into the game after a very close loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday and they now face the Bulls before hosting the Dallas Mavericks in the second of two games at the Pepsi Center after dealing with Chicago. The team comes in as the sixth best scoring team in the league and they are ranked 28th in defense, making this a prime matchup for the two sides, as they do the opposite of what the other team does best. The Nuggets are second in rebounding and that will be a factor on Thursday. The game is on TNT and starts up at 10:30 PM following the first game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder.