Bulls at Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers were held under 100 points for the first time in a 111-80 loss at the Los Angeles Clippers last week and spent the next two games making up for that lack of scoring. The Chicago Bulls are just beginning to get things turned around on the defensive end and will test how far they've come when they visit the Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
Portland trailed by as much as 17 points in the second quarter on Sunday before a halftime tirade from head coach Terry Stotts sparked the team to a 112-105 victory. "He pretty much told us what we were doing was unacceptable and we can’t keep doing it, putting ourselves in that position and not playing as smart as we’re capable of, not playing as hard at times as we need to be to give ourselves a chance," Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard told reporters. "Like I said, he got on us. He yelled at us a little bit." The Bulls found their own spark after a 115-107 loss at Atlanta last week and went on to hold the next two opponents under 100 points in back-to-back wins over the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards. Chicago is 2-3 on the road and is beginning a six-game trip that will see it go up against the two best defensive teams in the league - the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers - in the next two games.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, NBATV, WGN (Chicago), CSN Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE BULLS (6-4): Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo were both careful in pointing out when they signed with Chicago over the summer that it was Jimmy Butler's team, and the two were there to provide support. The two veterans regularly let the younger Butler take the lead, and he responded with 37 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in the 106-95 win over the Wizards on Sunday. "He's doing what me and Rondo came here for him to do," Wade told reporters. "And that's to really turn into a premiere, premiere player in this league above just an All-Star. He's really done it this last week, he's really been doing everything. He's defending the other team's best guy. He's rebounding, he's passing, he's scoring, he's been aggressive, so that's what you do when you're 27 years old. He's good."
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (7-4): Portland is blessed with a young star of its own in Lillard, who attacked the Denver defense on Sunday and ended up going 15-of-15 from the free-throw line en route to 32 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. Lillard suffered through his worst game - eight points on 1-of-10 shooting at the Clippers on Wednesday - but bounced back to go over 30 points in each of the next two contests. The Weber State product recorded seven 30-point outings in the first 11 games and averaged 25 points in two games against Chicago last season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Bulls SF Doug McDermott is in the concussion protocol for the second time this season after taking a hard fall on Sunday and will not play Tuesday.
2. Trail Blazers C Meyers Leonard is 2-of-12 from 3-point range in the last three games.
3. The visiting team took both meetings last season, with Chicago earning a 93-88 victory in Portland on Nov. 24.