The Chicago Bulls are going through another tough season without Derrick Rose healthy and now the team will hit the road for a matchup with a division rival in the Milwaukee Bucks and the game will be on at 8:30 pm live from the BMO Harris Bradley Center and will be streaming online from the NBA League Pass.
The loss of Derrick Rose is not a death sentence for the team, but it makes things very difficult and puts much more pressure on players like Luol Deng, Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer as the season goes on. Having Rose out of the lineup changes things for the Bulls and while they are still playing great defense and rebounding the ball at a high rate, the loss of Rose has had a big impact on scoring and the team could not even break 80 points against the terrible Knicks in their last matchup. Deng has been one of the top players mentioned in trade rumors after the team tabled his contract extension talks until after the season and he is set to be a free agent and the team could lose him to someone else depending on how the season goes and that is why the trade rumors have started to pop up, but the team has not seriously decided on trading him yet.
Check here for the Bulls and Bucks stream coverage.
The Bulls are coming into the matchup after losing against the Knicks on Wednesday and that matchup was at Madison Square Garden and now the team is heading to play the Bucks before a home matchup with the Toronto Raptors. The team coming to town next on Saturday for a back to back for the Bulls could be a trade partner, as the team is shopping Kyle Lowry and after a trade broke down for the Knicks, he possibly could take over for Rose.
The Bulls come in after Mike Dunleavy led the team in scoring against the Knicks with 20 points, while Carlos Boozer had 12 rebounds and Joakim Noah led the team with four assists. The team is ranked third in points allowed per game and 28th in scoring and just 14th in assists and they will not be giving up on the season just because Rose is injured and Deng is currently leading the team in scoring.
The Bucks come in after losing against the Spurs at home in a big blowout by 30 points and now the team hosts the Chicago Bulls before hitting the road to play against the Mavericks in Dallas. The Bucks have been playing some solid defense and they rank in the top 10 in points allowed, but the offense has been just as bad as the Bulls and they are ranked 30th in scoring with 89 points per game. The team is ranked 28th in rebounding and 29th in assist per game this season as well.