GAME NIGHT FROM CHARLOTTE: Bulls (12-40, 7-20 on the road) at Charlotte (25-26, 18-8 at home).
TV: WGN: Neil Funk and Stacey King: 6PM CT tipoff.
RADIO: 670 The Score: Chuck Swirsky, Bill Wennington, Steve Kashul. 5:45 CT pre.
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: LaVine: 22 ppg. Charlotte: Walker: 24 ppg.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Markkanen: 8. Charlotte: Biyombo, Hernangomez, Lamb each with 5 per.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Dunn: 6 per. Charlotte: Walker: 5 per.
CCI PREVIEW: The Bulls will be without Jabari Parker for personal reasons (death in the family). Wayne Selden Jr. sat out Friday’s practice with knee soreness. The Bulls had a nice vibe in Miami and played a terrific fourth quarter. Committing just 11 turnovers against the Heat was a huge factor in the Bulls win.
Charlotte played last night and turned it on in the final two minutes escaping with a 100-92 win over the free falling Grizzlies. Kemba Walker, a three time All-Star, scored 23 points.
SEASON SERIES: 1-1.
CCI 24 SECONDS NBA NEWS AND NOTES
Charlotte 100, Memphis 92: Marvin Williams nailed two big three-point shots. Bismack Biyombo swatted away two shots at crunch time. A banged up Memphis ballclub fell to 20-33.
Boston 113, New York 99: Lots of noise coming from Kyrie Irving regarding his pending free agent status, but on the court he was all business with 23 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. The Knicks dropped their 12th straight, 20 of 21.
Oklahoma 118, Miami 102: Paul George scored 43 points and had a career high 10 -3 point field goals. Russell Westbrook picked up his fifth straight triple-double, 18th on the season. OKC has won seven straight. Miami fell to the eighth seed in the East. Dwyane Wade was announced as an All-Star earlier in the day for the 13th time. Dirk Nowitzki has joined the WC All-Stars.
Utah 128, Atlanta 112: Rudy Gobert took his frustration on not making the All-Star team on the Hawks with a line of 25 points and 13 rebounds. Gobert went 11-15 from the line. Ricky Rubio, rumored to be on the trade block in a possible deal to Memphis, registered a double-double of 22 points and 11 assists.
Denver 136, Houston 122: One of CCI’s "under the radar" guys that has a terrific upside, Malik Beasley is ballin' big time. He scored 35 points, nailing five-three point field goals. Nikola Jokic, check that, All-Star Nikola Jokic had a 31-13-9 game.
Thanks for reading CCI. Reach out at cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter: @ctsbulls. Always a pleasure.