OKC Thunder take on the wounded Bulls – preview

The OKC Thunder are traveling for the first time since the All-Star break as they hit Chicago to take on the wounded Bulls. Gameday previews the match.

The OKC Thunder has come out of the All-Star break full of their post-Thanksgiving mojo. They staved off the Denver Nuggets and then mercilessly dispatched the San Antonio Spurs in consecutive home games last week. More importantly, they are looking good to move up the standings in the stretch run.

There are a number of reasons for this but the one which stands out is Steven Adams is healthy again. The Thunder pivot has literally limped through parts of this season and has been less than his usual effective self. There has been some heavy twitter criticism of his performance.

However, since the break, Adams has taken on Nikola Jokic and LaMarcus Aldridge. These two players are barometers for their teams and opponents. Adams battled Jokic and limited his effectiveness in the second half. He also simply outplayed Aldridge and handed the Spurs a massive loss.

https://twitter.com/okcthunder/status/1231760886609711104?s=20

Conversely, the Chicago Bulls have not been playing well. They have been plagued by injury with eight of their players being named on the injury list, more than half their roster. There are no teams who could sustain winning through this adversity.

As a result, the Bulls have won a single game in February, going 1-of-6 with only two games remaining in the month. Looking further back, the Bulls are 2-of-10 in their last ten games, enduring an eight-game losing streak prior to finally breaking out of the skid with a win against the Washington Wizards.

However, as a long-serving OKC Thunder fan, I  always preach caution when taking on an undermanned squad. As a team, the Thunder have lost too many of these games in the past. It is also hard to forget the last time these two met when the Thunder had to come back from more than 20 points down to win.