GAME NIGHT FROM OKLAHOMA CITY
Bulls: (10-18, 4-8 on the road) at Oklahoma City (11-14, 7-5 at home)
TV: NBCSC: Jason Benetti and Stacey King 7PM
RADIO: 670 The Score. Chuck Swirsky, Bill Wennington, and David Schuster.
LEADING SCORERS: Bulls: LaVine: 22 ppg. OKC: Gilgeous-Alexander: 18 ppg.
LEADING REBOUNDERS: Bulls: Carter: 9 per game. OKC: Adams 9 per.
LEADING ASSISTS: Bulls: Santoransky: 5 per. OKC: Paul: 6 per.
PREVIEW: The Bulls hope to build off their thrilling victory over the Clippers as they embark on a four-game road trip starting tonight here in Oklahoma City. The Bulls next five opponents are under .500 so now is the time to make headway to move up the ladder in the Eastern Conference standings. The Bulls are getting plenty of support from their bench and despite the fact Coby White is in a shooting slump, he continues to be aggressive off the dribble. Thaddeus Young with extended playing time is growing in his role as is Denzel Valentine who has given the Bulls a three-point shooter who is not afraid of taking big shots at crunch time.
The Thunder are in a transition period after trading Russell Westbrook to Houston for Chris Paul along with sending Paul George to the Clippers for a boatload of first-round picks.
The Thunder are in the business of collecting assets and they have a good, potentially great, point guard in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who leads the team in scoring at 18 points per game. Danilo Gallinari can pop the rock from three-point range. Dennis Schroeder has the ball in his hands a ton when he comes off the bench. He's led the Thunder in scoring the past three games averaging 22 per contest in that span. Veteran Chris Paul in the twilight of a brilliant Hall of Fame-worthy career remains a solid player at 34. He's got big-time cash remaining on his deal so it remains to be seen if the Thunder can move him. Steven Adams is a physical player who is averaging nearly a double-double per game. Nerlens Noel has shot 50 percent or better from the field in 13 straight games which is the longest active streak in the NBA.
24 SECONDS NBA NEWS AND NOTES:
Los Angeles Lakers 101, Atlanta 96: LeBron James poured in 32 points as the Lakers ran their win streak to seven games and joined the Bucks posting the best record in the NBA at 24-3.
Brooklyn 109, Philadelphia 89: Spencer Dinwiddie with a filthy one-handed dunk highlighted the Nets win as Philly's five-game win streak comes to an end.
Orlando 130, New Orleans 119: A franchise-record 12 straight losses for the Pelicans. Jonathan Issac posted a 21-11 game.
Indiana 107, Charlotte 85: Make it 12 straight double-double games and his 22nd on the season for Domantas Sabonis.
Denver 111, New York 105: Nikola Jokic scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. The Knicks fall to 6-21.
Sacramento 100, Golden State 79: The Kings won despite committing 29 turnovers. Seriously.
Luka Doncic could miss two weeks with a right ankle sprain sustained in Saturday's loss to Miami.
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