The Chicago Bulls are dealing with a tough injury to Derrick Rose and the New Orleans Pelicans now can say they are in the same boat, as they will be without Anthony Davis when the two teams meet on Monday night at the United Center and the game will be live online and streaming from NBA.com's league pass at 8:00 pm from Illinois.
The Bulls have had to deal with the loss of Derrick Rose to another season ending knee surgery and now they will try and pull to .500 with a win over the Pelicans on Monday. Luol Deng comes into the game leading the team in scoring and while he is a top trade target with his contract up at the end of the season, the Bulls appear to be in no rush to deal him right now. Deng is tops with 18 points per game and he comes into the matchup after leading the Pulls with 27 points and 11 assists in the loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday and his versatility is one reason why they don't want to give him up. The Bulls lost Rose, but the franchise is committed to making a playoff run and having Deng as the leader of the team is the only way to do that.
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The Pelicans will be without Anthony Davis for a while, so both of these teams are going through similar situations with their star players and while the Bulls injury is for the season, Davis' could be a while as well. The Bulls come into the game ranked third in the NBA in rebounds per game and that has been on the strength of Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozers, while the defense has been excellent once again, ranking fourth in the league with just 92 points allowed per game and that is about what the team is scoring on offense per contest. The team is ranked 16th in the league in assists per game and Kirk Hinrich is averaging nearly five rebounds per game, while Boozer is tops with nine per contest.
The Bulls will have a lot to overcome while playing without Rose and they are already eight games back of the Indiana Pacers in the division standings, as they are first in the east with a 16-1 record. The Pistons and the Cavaliers are next in the division ahead of the Bucks and right now it looks like the Pacers are the only team with a realistic shot to win it. The Bulls next play the Miami Heat on Thursday and that game will lose a bit of luster without Rose, but the Bulls remain a contender against the Heat in the east. The Pelicans won against the New York Knicks on Sunday and now are playing the second game of a back to back and they gave the Knicks their ninth loss in a row. The Pelicans will next play the Mavericks on Wednesday and they come into the game scoring over 100 points per game.
