Bulls vs. Wizards game preview and thread: can the Bulls do it, do it nine times?

I had a dream last night that the Bulls win this game comfortably by like 15 or so. My only stress was thinking ‘man maybe this team is even better than I think and I should be in championship-drive blogging mode?’.

I shouldn’t be that subconsciously confident. It’s tough to win nine friggin’ games in a row, and beat the same team twice in a week. But honestly the last time these two teams faced, the Bulls played like a loser, only to get bailed out thanks a DeMar DeRozan buzzer-beater. Up until the final few minutes, the Wiz were carving up the Bulls defense with ease. Maybe with this game being at home and the Bulls having 4 days of rest, the game will be more appropriate for the overall difference between these two teams: the Bulls’ season-long point differential is 8th, the Wizards are 23rd.

Since losing to the Bulls, Washington has had two more close games that they split. They beat the Hornets at home but then in a bad loss were defeated by the visiting Rockets on another buzzer-beater that you may have heard about.

The Bulls, as we know, aren’t exactly ‘rolling’ but are simply racking up victories. You could even say these past couple weeks with protocols put this team in a ‘slump’, they just are good enough to win anyway. This may be the start of them being even better, with nearly everyone available again.

Injury Report:

Bulls are fairly protocols-free for the first time in forever, with just Alex Caruso being out and he hadn’t even yet returned due to his foot sprain so this may be a silver lining. Unfortunately they have added a couple old-school injuries with Javonte Green and Tyler Cook being out weeks.

For the Wizards, they are pretty well-impacted by protocols but it’s mostly on the bottom half of the roster. Montrezl Harrell and Davis Bertans are out like in these teams last matchup, and added to the ‘out’ list include Anthony Gill, who played over 24 minutes in that game, and Tremont Waters, who played 7. On the plus side, Spencer Dinwiddie, Aaron Holiday, and Raul Neto are no longer on the injury report so the Wiz have actual point guards in the rematch.

Game Time: 7pm, NBC Sports Chicago