Bulls look to snap three game losing streak against the Orlando Magic

[Need a preview for this weekend’s game against the Wiz if you’re interested -yfbb]

The Bulls suddenly find themselves on a three game losing streak. Offensively they look stagnant, and it doesn’t help that defensively they are giving up baskets by the bucketload.

Chicago gives up 103.8 points per game, which ranks middle of the pack in terms of the rest of the NBA. But they are near the bottom in terms of opponents FG% at 47.3%. If the offense is not clicking, then the defense gets exposed even more. If Chicago has an off-night offensively, they can’t expect their defense to pick them up.

Their opponents tonight will be the Orlando Magic, whose form is the exact opposite of the Bulls. After starting their season 0-3, the Magic have reeled off three straight wins to get themselves back to .500, most recently beating the Washington Wizards 88-86 thanks to a big 4th quarter.

Orlando has some solid players on a team that is still in rebuilding mode. The frontline has former OKC player Serge Ibaka who can protect the rim and can also hit the occasional three. They have a trio of guards in Evan Fournier, Elfrid Payton, and Mario Hezonja. Hezonja is the youngest and is still developing. Fournier is the best scorer out of all of them and is also solid playmaker, so he should be a player to look out for. Fournier recently signed a huge contract and is currently playing up to it at the moment (18.2 PER).

The Magic also have former Bull D.J. Augustin on their team. Augustin was part of that famous club of small point guards who prospered under Tom Thibodeau. He was capable of going off and producing moments like this:

Tip off is at 7 PM CT on WGN