Chicago Bulls: October Schedule breakdown

In 2017, the Bulls and Spurs met twice. With the only two meetings of the teams coming in December, they got acquainted with one another fairly quickly. In the first game on December 8th, the Bulls squeaked out a 95-91 victory, in Chicago. The next match up was on Christmas day. In the marquee game of the day, the Spurs beat the Bulls handily by a score of 119-100.

More from Chicago Bulls

• Chicago Bulls’ winning ways proves Billy Donovan’s system works
• Chicago Bulls News: Coby White is that dude
• Chicago Bulls’ recent success means big trades make sense
• The Chicago Bulls seem to have a major Zach LaVine problem.
• No Zach, no DeMar, no problem? Chicago Bulls stun the Bucks in OT

This time around, both teams are a little bit different. Scratch that, the Spurs are a little different, the Bulls are practically an entirely new team. Being the second game of the season, Fred Hoiberg will have had a chance to learn from the inevitable mistakes he made in the opener against the Raptors, and adjust accordingly.

Despite the Chicago Bulls being at home, they will likely be an underdog. Possibly even one of the bigger underdog lines of the season against an over matched San Antonio team. Kawhi Leonard is once again an MVP candidate, Pau Gasol is still Pau Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge will likely beat the Bulls in the mid-range game. As for the newest member of the Spurs, Rudy Gay will be looking to finally make a deep postseason run for the first time in his season. With the Bulls being so young, and the Spurs being as great as ever, this will likely be another loss in the L column.

Final Score Prediction: San Antonio 105 – Chicago 91

Scoring Leaders: Kawhi Leonard: 26, Jerian Grant: 17

Rebound Leaders: LaMarcus Aldridge: 13, Robin Lopez 9

Assist Leaders: Kyle Anderson: 5, Justin Holiday 4

Going into Cleveland for the first time since Derrick Rose joined the rival Cavaliers will likely be a new feeling for the Bulls. The once promised “Chosen One”, will now be part of the teams bitter rivalry with the team from Cleveland. As Joakim Noah once said, “Who wants to go to Cleveland?”. One thing is for certain, this Chicago team wishes they did not have to go there. This will not be a pretty sight.

From every aspect of the game, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a tremendously better team than the Bulls. With a starting 5 who have likely played in more total games than the entire Chicago Bulls roster outside of Robin Lopez, they will be able to meticulously breakdown the young team up against them. Lebron James is in the midst of his 13th year, but just because he is getting up there in age doesn’t mean his game is falling apart, look for Bron Bron to have at least one highlight dunk on the Bulls, my guess would be on a pass from Derrick Rose over Nikola Mirotic. Remember this article if that actually happens.

In this game, the Bulls will likely have trouble rebounding the ball. With Robin Lopez being the main source of boards, and Tristan Thompson likely to neutralize him, this could be an ugly game from the rebound perspective. As a Bulls fan, this would be a lovely win. It just simply is not going to happen.

Final Score Prediction: Cleveland 117 – Chicago 95

Scoring Leaders: Lebron James: 25, Nikola Mirotic 21

Rebound Leaders: Tristan Thompson: 14, Bobby Portis 8

Assist Leaders: Lebron James: 9, Jerian Grant 6