The Chicago Bulls came into the season expecting to be one of the best teams in the eastern conference and after getting off to a slow start the group is heating up and after snapping a win streak against the Nuggets, the team will try to rebound against the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night starting up at 10:00 pm at the Moda Center in a game that will be streaming online from the NBA league pass.
The Bulls have been playing very solid defense and ranks in the top five in the league and that has helped the team to a 6-4 start, but they will have a tough test with the surprising Blazers, who have started 10-2 on the season. The Bulls are coming off of a 10 point loss to the Denver Nuggets on Thursday and now have a back to back on Friday with the Blazers for the second road game in a row and then the team plays against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday at the Staples Center and that should be a great battle between Derrick Rose and Chris Paul and two teams that think they can make a run to the finals. The Bulls come in scoring just under 94 points per game and they are ranked first in the NBA in rebounds per game with nearly 50, while they are allowing under 90 points per contest.
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The Bulls come in after Derrick Rose scored 19 points to lead the team against the Nuggets, while Luol Deng had 13 rebounds and now the team stays on the road against the Blazers, who have the third best record in the league right now. The Bulls are three and a half games back of the Pacers in the division and one of the biggest issues for the team has been pacing and laying out their game plan, as the Nuggets were able to dictate the pace of the game on Thursday and it was too fast for the Bulls and now they have a young and hungry team with LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard on the schedule. Rose never had the chance to fave Lillard last season and now they will have their first matchup as two of the top young point guards in the NBA, with Rose obviously a bit more established.
Portland comes into the game after a victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday and now they will face Chicago before taking a quick trip to play the Golden State Warriors on the road. The team is ranked in the top 10 in all the major categories this season and they are ranked seventh in the league in scoring with 103 points per game and they have been solid on defense with just under 100 points allowed per game to rank 10th in the NBA. The team is ranked 10th in assists and eighth in rebounding with Aldridge and Lillard and they have gotten some very solid production from their bench as well. Aldridge is leading the team in scoring and rebounding and he has shown why he is considered one of the best players at his position in the league and the team still has some solid basketball ahead of it on the schedule and this should be a very solid matchup.
The Bulls started off the season with a loss to the Miami Heat and rebounded with a one point win over the Knicks with a shot from Derrick Rose, but after losing the next two to the Sixers and the Pacers, the team pulled together and rebounded with a nice winning streak. The team won five games in a row, including one over the Pacers and then after defeating the Bobcats they lost to the Blazers, Now the team will face off against the Portland Trail Blazers at 10 PM on Friday.