After both coming into the day questionable on the injury report, Alex Caruso and Patrick Williams received different answers.
Caruso will sit out tonight’s matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers due to a foot sprain that held him to just 7 minutes in the team’s previous contest. Meanwhile, Williams will return to the lineup despite suffering an ankle sprain in that same game, per NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson.
The absence of Caruso tonight could prove huge when we consider Portland has one of the top-scoring backcourts in the NBA. Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons combine for 52.6 points per game and each shoots 37.0 percent or better from downtown on 9.5 or more attempts per game. Keeping them in check tonight will be a tall task for Ayo Dosunmu, Zach LaVine, and the rest of the Bulls’ guards.
The good news, however, is that Williams should help limit the Blazers’ third-leading scorer. Jerami Grant also averages 21.0 points a night on 48.5 shooting from the field. Let’s hope Williams can at least help take his skills out of the game.