FINAL FROM THE UNITED CENTER: Bulls 125, Houston 120. (Bulls: 6-8, 2-3 at home)
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: LaVine: 33pts. Houston: Oladipo: 32pts.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Young: 8. Houston: Wood: 9.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: LaVine: 7. Houston: 9.
CCI STAT OF THE GAME: The Bulls drilled 20-three point field goals. Five different players had three or more.
CCI RECAP: Both the Bulls and Rockets missed key personnel. Houston's John Wall sat out with knee soreness. The Bulls were without four players including starting forward Patrick Williams (hip) and Otto Porter Jr. (back). Tomas Satoransky and Chandler Hutchison remained sidelined.
The game itself? The two teams combined to go 37 of 85 from three point country. Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine each buried four apiece. Markkanen hit a huge triple at crunch time as did Thad Young who had a solid 12 points, nine rebounds game off the bench. Denzel Valentine also contributed as a reserve scoring 13 points and pulling down eight rebounds. Zach LaVine took over in the third quarter holding off the Rockets, scoring 14 of his game high 33 points in the period. The Bulls have won two straight and won't see the floor again until Friday in Charlotte.
UP NEXT: At Charlotte Friday.
CCI NBA NEWS AND NOTES
Brooklyn 125, Milwaukee 123. Kevin Durant and James Harden combined for 70 points as the Nets won a thriller. Brooklyn is 2-0 with Harden in the lineup. Kyrie Irving missed his seventh straight game. He could return Wednesday against the Cavs.
Golden State 115, Los Angeles Lakers 113. The Warriors erased a 14 point fourth quarter deficit. Steph Curry scored 26 points.
New York 91, Orlando 84. The Magic have lost six straight. The Knicks received great production from R.J. Barrett (22-10). Julius Randle who is crushing it every single night had 21 points and 17 rebounds.
Atlanta 108, Minnesota 97. Three Hawks scored 20 or more. Clint Capela scored 23 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. The T-Wolves fell to 3-9, 1-5 on the road.
San Antonio 125, Portland 104. The Spurs bench outscored the Portland reserves 59-24. The banged up Blazers are playing without two starters: CJ McCollum and Jusuf Nurkic. Both players will be gone for up to at least the next four weeks.
Memphis 108, Phoenix 104. Ja Morant with 17 points and 10 assists as the Grizzlies have won five straight.
Toronto 116, Dallas 93. Another game and another double digit defeat for the Mavs who are feeling the full effect of an undermanned roster.
Miami 113, Detroit 107. The Heat rallied from 19 down . Miami played without four key players including Jimmy Butler and Tyler Herro.
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