Bulls vs. Trail Blazers – Projected Lineups, Injury Report, How To Watch, More
One of those lovely 9:00 pm starts out west in Portland. Pretty darn close to a must-win for the Bulls tonight.
Game Info
Chicago Bulls (34-38) at Portland Trail Blazers (32-40) – 9:00 p.m. CT on NBC Sports Chicago (TV) and 670 The Score (Radio)
Projected Starting Lineups
Chicago Bulls
- Patrick Beverley
- Alex Caruso
- Zach LaVine
- Patrick Williams
- Nikola Vučević
Injury Report: Alex Caruso PROBABLE (foot), Javonte Green QUESTIONABLE (knee), DeMar DeRozan OUT (quad), Lonzo Ball OUT (knee)
Portland Trail Blazers
- Damian Lillard
- Matisse Thybulle
- Shaedon Sharpe
- Nassir Little
- Trendon Watford
Injury Report: Nassir Little PROBABLE (concussion), Damian Lillard OUT (calf), Jusuf Nurkic OUT (knee), Anfernee Simons OUT (foot), Jerami Grant (quad)
Odds
The Bulls come into tonight’s game as 4.5-point favorites against the Trail Blazers at PointsBet Illinois Sportsbook and FanDuel Illinois Sportsbook. Click on either link to sign up and pick the Bulls to cover (… or pick the opposite …)!
What to Watch For
- Well for starters, I’m watching for the Bulls to score a point in the first 4:30 of tonight’s game! Let’s not let the opponent jump out to a 17-0 lead again. Sound good?
- All right but seriously, the Bulls have to get off to a better start tonight. Monday in Philly they got off to a slow start offensively, but the defense was good enough to keep it close and Philly was ice-cold shooting the ball. Wednesday the Bulls started out slow offensively, and Philly wasn’t ice cold. We know how that one went. We’re going to need to see a faster start tonight and the Bulls to play with more pace out of the gate against a very banged-up and shorthanded Portland team.
- The Bulls will also be a little shorthanded tonight. DeMar DeRozan will be out of the lineup after exiting Wednesday’s game with a quad injury – the same quad that caused him to miss 4 games earlier this season. But as DeMar comes out of the lineup, the Bulls do get a little bit of help with Alex Caruso returning from his foot injury.
- Definitely looking for a bounceback effort from LaVine tonight. He’s been pretty awesome since the All-Star break, but both performances against Philly weren’t his best or most efficient. He’s just 2 for his last 11 from three, that’s something that’s going to need to improve. After shooting at around a 60% rate from the field since the All-Star break, he shot just 40% in his last two games. With DeMar sidelined, it’s Zach’s show. Want to see him take over.
- I mentioned it earlier, but Portland is incredibly banged up. Simons and Grant are both out. Nurkic is doubtful. Lillard is questionable but I’d be surprised if he didn’t play. The Blazers have lost 6 of 7, and with the Bulls pushing for the playoffs this has to be a win.
