The Chicago Bulls and the Oklahoma City Thunder are coming into the season as two teams that have the potential to win championships and on Wednesday night the squads will face off in the NBA preseason in a game from Kansas at Intrust Bank Arena starting up at 9:30 pm on television with ESPN handling the TV work while it will also be streaming online on the Watch ESPN website and the live stream can be found below.
The game for the Bulls on Wednesday isn't too important in the grand scheme of things, but Derrick Rose will be playing in the matchup and Chicago has the chance to stay undefeated in the preseason, as they come in with a 6-0 record. The Bulls have looked very good in the preseason and so has Rose, who clearly made the right decision to wait as long as he wanted to come back from his serious ACL injury, as he has looked explosive in the early part of the schedule. Rose said that the knee feels better than ever and that he can jump even higher now than he could from before the procedure. Rose will be a favorite for the MVP if he can remain healthy through the season and they appear to have the best chance to knock off the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference.
Check here for the ESPN stream from Watch ESPN for the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder Live Stream from the NBA preseason.
The Bulls are coming into the season after winning over 40 games without Rose and making the playoffs and the team was able to get past the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the postseason, pushing the series to seven games and getting past them with some solid play from Nate Robinson, who is now gone after leaving as a free agent. The team won the first game against the Miami Heat in the playoffs and that is why many called for the return of Rose, but he remained on the bench and the team lost the next four games and now they will have the chance to play the Heat once again, as they will start the regular season with a road game against Miami that will open the year for the league. That game of course will be on national TV and watching the Heat get their rings and raise the banners in their special jerseys made for the game could be the motivation the Bulls need to get going right away.
The team could be dealing with some injuries heading into the regular season, as Kirk Hinrich and Joakim Noah are both banged up and there is a chance they could be missing when the season begins. The team comes into the year after being ranked 29th in the league in points per game with just under 94, but the return of Rose to the lineup every night should cut that ranking in half at least. The team was good up the middle and the outside, ranking in the top 10 in both assists and rebounds per game and after struggling from long range, adding Mike Dunleavy in free agency should give the team a boost from the three-point line. The team is of course fine on defense, ranking third last season in points allowed per game even with the stellar Rose out for the year.
The Bulls are coming off a win against the Bucks and they will next play Denver after the Thunder.
