GAME NIGHT FROM THE UNITED CENTER: Dallas(2-3, 1-2 on the road) at Bulls (2-4, 0-3 at home) 7PM.
RADIO: 670 THE SCORE: Chuck Swirsky and Bill Wennington: 6:45 pre.
TV: NBCSC: Adam Amin and Stacey King: 7PM
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: LaVine: 22ppg. Mavs: Doncic: 24ppg
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Carter: 7 per. Mavs: Doncic: 7per.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: White: 5 per. Mavs: Doncic: 6 per.
CCI PREVIEW: The Bulls make a quick stop at the United Center before starting a four game road trip Tuesday in Portland.
The undermanned Bulls will need to play a solid game against a Dallas club led by MVP candidate Luka Doncic who leads the Mavs in scoring, rebounding and assists. The Mavs are playing without Kristaps Porzingis who has been sidelined with a knee injury after undergoing surgery. He's expected to return to action soon. If the Mavs expect to make any kind of noise in the rugged Western Conference, Porzingis MUST be healthy and ready to roll when the playoffs start in mid May.
Doncic is questionable for tonight's game with a left quad contusion.
Without question the Bulls are hurting with the loss of Chandler Hutchison, Lauri Markkanen, Tomas Satoransky and Ryan Arcidiacono. The Bulls are experiencing the unfortunate side of life in these Covid-19 days. It's next man up and that's how teams have to approach it. Pro sports is an unforgiving industry. You win. You lose.
Wendell Carter Jr. is finding a nice rhythm to his game and is shooting 71% over his last four outings, averaging 15 points and 8 rebounds.
CCI NBA NEWS AND NOTES
New York 106, Indiana 102. The Knicks are 3-3.
Philadelphia 127, Charlotte 112. Ben Simmons posted a triple-double of 15-12-11. Philly has not lost to Charlotte since November 2016.
Cleveland 96, Atlanta 91. The Cavs rallied from a 15 point second half deficit to improve to 4-2. Collin Sexton scored 27 points for Cleveland. Atlanta's Danilo Gallinari will be out of action for at least two weeks with an ankle injury.
Oklahoma City 108, Orlando 99. The Thunder snapped a three game losing streak. The Magic have dropped two straight.
Houston 102, Sacramento 94. The Rockets won despite the absence of James Harden. John Wall scored 28 points.
New Orleans 120, Toronto 116. Eric Bledsoe scored 19 points and dished out 10 assists. The Raps fell to 1-4, 0-3 on the road.
NATIONAL TV GAMES NBA TV: 2PM Boston at Detroit.
NBA TV: 5PM Washington at Brooklyn.
NBA TV: 7:30 Portland at Golden State.
RIP Hall of Famer Paul Westphal. Westphal was a great star at USC and carried his success over to the pro ranks with Boston, Phoenix, Seattle and New York. He later coached the Suns to the '93 Finals only to lose to Michael Jordan and the Bulls in six games. Westphal was a tremendous man who lived his life with character and integrity.
Thanks for reading CCI. Reach out: cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter @ctsbulls
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