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Chicago held a late lead before falling at Golden State on
Nov. 20 but had a harder time keeping pace at Indiana in a
104-92 loss on Friday. “They outplayed us at both ends, point
blank, period,” Bulls guard Jimmy Butler told reporters.
“Turnovers, missed shots, they just outplayed us both ends of
the floor. Not too much to blame it on. They played better.” San
Antonio has been playing better than most teams of late,
especially at the defensive end. The Spurs crushed the Atlanta
Hawks 108-88 on Saturday to run their winning streak to five
straight and have held each of their last five opponents under
90 points.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), CSN Chicago
ABOUT THE SPURS (14-3): San Antonio is allowing an average of
83.4 points during its latest winning streak and did not allow
any Atlanta starter to score more than 10 points in Saturday’s
drubbing. Star forward Kawhi Leonard is averaging 23.2 points on
53.8 percent shooting and 8.4 rebounds over the last five games
and knocked down 13-of-22 3-point attempts in that span. The
reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year was part of a
perimeter effort that held the Hawks to 6-of-26 from 3-point
range in Saturday’s triumph.
ABOUT THE BULLS (9-5): Derrick Rose missed the first two games
of the road trip with a sprained ankle and had a hard time
working his way into the offense when he came back, going
11-of-36 from the field in a win over Portland and the loss at
Indiana. “I missed a lot of layups and bunnies, turnovers,
missed layups, floaters, shots I normally hit with my left
hand,” Rose told reporters after going 4-of-16 against the
Pacers. “… We came out sluggish, I came out sluggish, had (two)
turnovers in the first quarter, missed bunnies. I have to change
that next game.” Rose has scored 20 or more points twice in 12
games while failing to reach double digits three times.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The home team took each of the two meetings last season, with
Rose scoring 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting in the Bulls’ Jan. 22
home win.
2. San Antonio C Tim Duncan rested on the first night of the
back-to-back on Friday and returned with a season-high 18
rebounds in 28 minutes on Saturday.
3. Chicago F Nikola Mirotic is averaging 18.7 points over the
last three games.
PREDICTION: Spurs 102, Bulls 93
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