Both the Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls are struggling on offense right now. Injuries to several stars leave a lot to be desired in this matchup that looked very entertaining before the season started. While both are still in contention in their respective conferences, this could be a defensive affair and low scoring.
Injuries to Derrick Rose, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich have left the Bulls with one of the worst offenses in the league. However, with James Harden and Jeremy Lin out, the Rockets offense could be just as bad. Harden will not be available after he rolled his ankle against the Sacramento Kings. He limped off to the locker room. Averaging a team-high 24.7 points per game, the absence of Harden could be hard to overcome.
In his place, Chandler Parsons will step up. In the four games Harden has missed this year, Parson has put up 41 points, going 16 of 28 from the field. Dwight Howard has done well, putting up 14.3 boards. The Rockets and Bulls do not have a lot of history together, but Houston owns the series with four-straight victories. Wednesday night could be their fifth.
Injuries have decimated Chicago's offense. Jimmy Butler has been out 11 games thanks to turf toe. He returned against Orlando to miss 10 of 11 shots from the field, totaling just 31 points in three games. Carlos Boozer is looking just as bad. He is averaging 9.3 points per game over the last two weeks. Chicago as a team is only putting up 79.5 points per game, shooting just 36.1 percent from the field.
The last stretch of games has not been kind to Chicago. The team went 2-13 back in 2004-05 over the same stretch and are looking to avoid a repeat this season.
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