GAME NIGHT FROM THE UNITED CENTER: Utah (42-30, 19-18 on the road) at Bulls (21-52, 9-27 at home)
TV: WGN: Neil Funk and Stacey King: 7PM.
RADIO: 670 The Score: Chuck Swirsky, Bill Wennington and Steve Kashul.
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: LaVine 23ppg. Utah: Mitchell: 23ppg.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Markkanen: 9 per. Utah: Gobert 12 per.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Dunn: 6 per. Utah: Rubio: 6 per.
SEASON SERIES: Utah 1-0.
BULLS INJURY UPDATE: Per Coach Boylen, Dunn has a mid back strain, and is questionable for tomorrow vs. Jazz. He did not practice today. Porter has a shoulder strain and is doubtful, LaVine questionable but practiced today.
CCI PREVIEW: The Jazz march in to Chicago playing their third game in four nights. After beating the Knicks and Wizards, Utah fell to Atlanta on Thursday. The Bulls are a battered ball club as they entertain a Jazz team fighting for a home court seed in the opening round of the playoffs. It remains to be seen what lineup Jim Boylen will go with tonight but I can tell you one thing is certain: Shaq Harrison will bring it 24-7. How about a delicious matchup of a tenacious defender in Harrison against one of the game's rising stars in Donovan Mitchell? I'm up for that. Mitchell is emerging as one of the elite faces of the Association with his expanding skill and engaging personality.
The Jazz are well coached and well prepared. Quinn Snyder is one of the better coaches in the NBA and the Bulls will need to bring their "A" game to the United Center. The Bulls attempted to bottle up Rudy Gobert in the first meeting but he still managed to score, rebound and collect assists. Gobert leads the NBA in field goal percentage at 65%. He's fourth in the NBA in rebounding at nearly 13 per game. He is a big time talent. I'm looking forward to the Gobert-Robin Lopez matchup.
CCI 24 SECONDS NBA NEWS AND NOTES
Brooklyn 111, Los Angeles Lakers 106: Former Laker D'Angelo Russell helped eliminate his former team from the playoff picture with 21 points and 13 assists. The Lakers have missed the playoffs a franchise record six straight seasons.
Oklahoma City 116, Toronto 109: Kawhi Leonard scored 37 but the Raps missed Kyle Lowry (injury) as the Thunder ended a four game slide.
Milwaukee 116, Miami 87: The Bucks improved to 54-19, clinching their first Central Division title since 2000-2001.
Houston 111, San Antonio 105: James Harden tied his career high with 61 points.
Los Angeles Clippers 110, Cleveland 108: The Clippers are 9-1 this month.
Orlando 123, Memphis 119 OT: The Magic still hoping to sneak in to the playoffs. They picked up their fourth straight win as Terrence Ross scored 31 points. I totally get it - Marc Gasol is beloved in Memphis and rightfully so but Jonas Valanciunas who came over from the Raptors is a big time talent. He recorded 23 points and 24 rebounds.
Denver 111, New York 93: The Nuggets won their sixth straight game. New York has lost 11 of 12. Enough said.
Thanks for reading CCI. Reach out at cswirsky@bulls.com or Twitter: @ctsbulls. Always a pleasure!