Coming into the NBA season the Chicago Bulls were looked at as a contender against the Miami Heat in the East, but after losing Derrick Rose to another knee injury things got sidetracked and now the two teams will play on Thursday night in an NBA on TNT matchup from United Center starting up at 9:30 pm and streaming online from Turner and the NBA.com website.
Miami got off to a slow start this season but that have been heating up -- excuse the pun -- and the team now is right behind the Indiana Pacers in the conference standings and could move up with a win over the Bulls on Thursday night. The east has been absolute terrible this season and right now the Heat and Pacers look like the only legitimate title contenders, while the west is deep with quality teams like the Spurs, Trail Blazers an Oklahoma City Thunder. LeBron James has once again been fantastic for Miami and he has the chance to get another MVP award and his third straight championship if the Hear can get past the Pacers.
With Derrick Rose coming back from missing last season with a knee injury, any felt that the Bulls would be the team to beat in the central division, but so far it has been all Indiana and the Bulls come into the matchup on Thursday with a 7-9 record, good for second in the division. Rose has said that if he can get back to full strength before the end of the season there is chance he could come back for the playoffs, but many thought he would do that last season and it didn't work it out, so it's best to take a wait and see approach on how all that works out. The Bulls now have Luol Deng as their centerpiece player and he is leading the team in scoring after doing that last season as well.
Deng has been one of the top names mentioned in trade rumors this season and the Bulls likely will deal him if they struggle down the stretch, but after making the playoffs last season, they may try and hold onto him. The team would love to sign him to an extension if it isn't too much money and he comes into the game on Thursday after leading the team with 37 points against the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night in overtime.
The Bulls come into the matchup ranked third in the NBA in rebounding and fourth in defensive scoring and they are averaging 94 points per game, which is what they are scoring as well. The Heat are looking to rebound after a loss to the Detroit Pistons and now James and company will look to improve on their 14-4 record against the Bulls. The team comes in ranked in the top 10 in scoring, defensive scoring and assists per game and they are averaging over 100 points on offense.