Preview: Grizzlies at Bulls

[March 15, 2017]  The Chicago Bulls and the Memphis Grizzlies both snapped lengthy slides on Monday, but only one of those teams is still hanging around in the top eight of its respective conference. The Bulls will try to climb back toward the No. 8 spot in the East when they host the Grizzlies on Wednesday.

Chicago dropped out of the top eight with a five-game losing streak, low-lighted by a 100-80 loss at Boston on Sunday in which it scored 26 points in the first half. The Bulls looked like a different team with veteran point guard Rajon Rondo inserted back into the starting lineup on Monday as he pushed the pace and led the team to a 115-109 triumph at the Charlotte Hornets. Memphis snapped its own five-game slide - during which it surrendered an average of 114 points - on Monday by turning up the defensive intensity in a 113-93 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. "We got after it tonight," Grizzlies coach David Fizdale told reporters after the win. "It was like I almost didn't recognize us. I haven't seen that from us in a while where we were really sharp on our coverages. I think you saw it. We were really good at shrinking the floor on those interior passes they were trying to make, and they’re one of the best in the league at throwing those little, tight interior passes."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Memphis), CSN Chicago

ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (37-30): All-Star center Marc Gasol suffered through one of his worst games with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting in a 107-90 loss to Atlanta on Saturday but turned things around on Monday by focusing on the defensive end. "I really thought Marc made a conscious effort to focus on our defense and make us defend and make multiple efforts," Fizdale told reporters. "When he's like that defensively, I think we all know that makes us tough. We talked about it, we coached it, we watched the film, but they executed and that was the good part." Gasol finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and a pair of steals in the win.

ABOUT THE BULLS (32-35): Memphis' win on Monday helped Chicago, which moved within a half-game of Milwaukee for the No. 8 spot in the East. The Bulls experimented with Rondo, Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler in the starting lineup together earlier in the season but abandoned those plans months ago until Monday, when Rondo found his way back into the starting five and all three players scored at least 20 points. "It was just a beautiful thing to watch," Rondo told reporters. "That's why I said, 'Put this thing on loop, guys - this is how we want to play.' We were sharing it, we were making the unselfish play, it wasn't sticking in guys' hands. We were getting it into the paint and kicking it out with great spacing on the backside. It's how you want to do it. Hopefully we can bottle this up and continue it on for the rest of the year."

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Bulls PF Nikola Mirotic scored a season-high 24 points in 29 minutes on Monday after being a healthy scratch in each of the previous three games.

2. Grizzlies SG Vince Carter (40 years, 46 days) became the oldest player in NBA history to record at least eight field-goal attempts without a miss when he went 8-of-8 on Monday.

3. Chicago earned a 108-104 win at Memphis on Jan. 15 behind 31 points from Doug McDermott, who is now with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

PREDICTION: Grizzlies 105, Bulls 98

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