Grizzlies at Bulls
THE STORY: The Chicago Bulls finally play at home when they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. Chicago went 3-1 on a season-opening West Coast road trip that began and ended with visits to Los Angeles. The Bulls defeated the Lakers on Christmas Day and the Clippers on Friday. Chicago’s lone loss on the trip came at Golden State. Reigning MVP Derrick Rose was a dreadful 4-of-17 shooting against the Warriors but had a monster game with 29 points, 16 assists and eight rebounds in the win over the Clippers. Memphis lost its first two games of the season before routing the Houston Rockets 113-93 on Friday. The Grizzlies will be without point guard Mike Conley for a second straight game and that means rookie Jeremy Pargo will have the assignment of slowing down Rose, who had his first career triple-double (22 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds) against Memphis last season. Pargo, a native of Chicago, is averaging 11.3 points and five assists.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, SportSouth (Memphis), Comcast SportsNet (Chicago)
ABOUT THE GRIZZLES (1-2): Zach Randolph (23 points on 11-of-14 shooting) and Marc Gasol (20 points, 6-of-8) feasted inside in the victory over Houston and now face a huge challenge going up against Chicago’s Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer. Noah is much more physical than anyone the Rockets can offer. Randolph shot just 41.9 percent in two games against Chicago last season and the Grizzlies need a huge effort from him to win in Chicago. Gasol is averaging 16.3 points and shooting 66.7 percent this season.
ABOUT THE BULLS (3-1): Rose has been much more aggressive the past two games after being more passive than usual in Chicago’s first two games. His 16 assists in the 114-101 victory over the Clippers fell one shy of his career-high and he appeared to have added motivation by going up against Chris Paul. “It’s like two heavyweights going at it,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said afterward. “Punch after punch. I thought Derrick got our team going offensively. We had some easy baskets.”
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. Chicago is 13-3 against the Grizzlies at the United Center.
2. Memphis is shooting just 17.9 percent (5-for-28) from 3-point range.
3. Bulls forward Luol Deng averaged 25.5 points and shot 61.3 percent from the field against Memphis last season.