The Chicago Bulls will continue their west coast trip with a matchup against Oklahoma City. Chicago enters Friday night with a two-game win streak, with their most recent win against the Bucks on Wednesday, 118-113. Oklahoma City will try to get their first home win since November 11th. The Thunder are currently on a three-game losing streak.
Last season, the Bulls won both matchups against the Thunder. But both games were close, with Chicago winning by one point in the first matchup on January 24th, 111-110. For the second matchup, the Bulls won by five in the second matchup on February 12th at the United Center, 116-111.
Matchup to Watch
Ayo Dosunmu vs Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
If Ayo Dosunmu can lock down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Bulls will have no problems winning against the Thunder. The Thunder are 0-2 when Alexander scores less than 20 points. He has shot below 45% in the last two games. But the problem is entering Friday night; Alexander is averaging 31.1 points and 6.3 assists. The last time Oklahoma City won, Alexander scored 42 points on 63.6% shooting from the field in a 121-120 win over the Wizards. Forcing Alexander to give up the ball will be significant.
After guarding Jaylen Brown on Monday and Jrue Holiday on Wednesday, Ayo Dosunmu will get another tough challenge. Dosunmu has done well on the defensive end but has cooled off after an excellent shooting start to the season. In the last six games, Dosunmu has shot 2-for-12 from three.
Keys to the Game
Avoiding play down to Oklahoma City’s level
After two intense games against the top two Eastern Conference teams, Chicago can not let up and take any days off. The last time the Bulls played against a team below .500 was the Orlando Magic, and that game did not go to plan for the Bulls. Oklahoma City will enter this game with a 7-11 record and are without their rookie Chet Holmgren, who is out for the season with a foot injury. But have potential future pieces of their next good team with guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey.
So how can you avoid playing down to teams in tanking mode? Stay in attack mode and continue running up the score. Two players that must be in attack mode are Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic. For Lavine, he must attack the rime instead of resulting for threes. Vucevic must get post touches in the post. Last season, when these teams met in Oklahoma City, the Bulls had their most significant lead of the night cut from 28 points down to one. The Bulls can not allow the Thunder to have any momentum throughout the game and keep the crowd quiet.
Stay Hot from Deep
What sparked the Bulls against Boston and Milwaukee earlier this week? Three-point shooting. During the four-game losing streak, Chicago shot below 35 in all four games. That includes three out of the four games shooting below 30% from deep. But against Boston, Chicago shot 48.2% and 42.9% against Milwaukee from behind the arc. On the other side, the Thunder are fifth in the NBA with 116.9 points per game. They shot better than 51% from deep in their most recent two wins.
If you want to win the championship, you must shoot well. The main three pointers shooters for the Bulls lately have been Nikola Vucevic and Coby White. Both players hit significant threes Wednesday night against the Bucks. White tied the game with a three and gave the Bulls a lead late with a three Wednesday night. He finished the game going 4-for-7 from deep. Vucevic went 4-for-10 from three.
Injury Report
Bulls
| Player | Injury | Status |
| Lonzo Ball | Knee | Out |
| Goran Dragic | Cervical Stinger | Questionable |
| Javonte Green | Back | Active |
Thunder
| Player | Injury | Status |
| Chet Holmgren | Foot | Out |
| Mike Muscala | Finger | Out |
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