Bulls will look to bounce back against Portland Trail Blazers

It was a bad night all around for the Chicago Bulls last night. It was a very bad game between Chicago and the Hawks, but Atlanta made the shots they needed to down the stretch and pulled away.

The loss dropped Chicago to 8th in the standings as they sit 11 games back of the Cavs. But the Bulls are 1.5 games ahead of Detroit so there is some breathing room. But we all know how wacky the Eastern Conference can get.

It won't get any easier for Chicago however as their opponent is the Portland Trail Blazers, who are coming off a tough loss to the Rockets. Portland was up by double digits for much of the game but fell victims to a huge comeback by the Rockets. Even with the loss, Portland are still a team that will cause the Bulls problems.

Damian Lillard will be a lot to handle on the offensive and his supporting cast has stepped up as well C.J McCollum is a candidate for Most Improved Player and Allen Crabbe has shown some great potential at the 2 spot. Portland may have lost most of their stars in the offseason but they are still a tough outing.

With Derrick Rose likely out tonight as well, E'Twaun Moore will have to work hard tonight as he guards Lillard. He's Portland's leading scorer and he will be looking to improve on his rough shooting night against the Rockets (6-20 from the field). Moore struggled last night as did many of the Bulls against Atlanta and will be running all over the place to guard Lillard.

Chicago's best offensive hope will be Doug McDermott. McBuckets has played great in the past couple of gamesand will look to find some open shots against a Portland team that is in the bottom of half in terms of 3-point percentage allowed. Let's hope we can see Doug dunk again as well.

Coming off a back to back, Chicago will have to find something extra in them tonight. Against a tough Western Conference opponent, it could be another long night for Chicago.