The 5-3 Houston Rockets head to the game as the victors of back-to-back contests. While the 3-6 Chicago Bulls return to their home floor with a blowout victory over the Atlanta Hawks. This game pits an aggressive offense from the Rockets against an unpredictable one from the Bulls, which makes the match-up both intriguing and confusing.
Threes on top of threes… on top of threes
The Rockets will keep bombing three-pointers with zero conscience. They are putting up 47.8 attempts per game from downtown, the most in the NBA, and 14 more than the league average. It will be interesting to see how well it would fare against the Bulls, who are allowing the 23rd-most threes in the league. Then again, the Rockets are only 24th in three-point shooting at 33%.
Nevertheless, the focal point will be on James Harden and his love for isolation plays. The Beard is averaging 14 ISO plays every night and a 39.2% frequency to do so whenever he gets the ball, both highest in the league by far. Some days are good and some days are really bad, but overall, it has resulted in him ranking first in scoring for the third-consecutive season – he’s averaging 36.5 PPG coming in.
Westbrook, as always, will be a force on the stat sheet. He’s posting fantasy-friendly numbers of 20.7 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 8.7 rebounds per game. Watch out for a possible shutout, though. The Miami Heat stymied Russ this past week and got him earning a career and franchise-worst -46 plus-minus.
Even the Bulls do not know what to expect from themselves
It’s an everyday puzzle. The Bulls have no identity even with all the talent in the roster, so you just never know which team is going to show up. One minute they are winning by 20 points on the road, and on the next they are squandering a 19-point lead in the second half… at home.
Zach Lavine is one of the most explosive young scorers today – or at least he’s supposed to be. He’s an athletic freak that has developed a knack for knocking down contested jumpers and all he has mustered so far is 20.4 PPG, a fair bit under the 23.7 he averaged last season.
Lauri Markkanen is joining Lavine in the disappointment list. He has gone down in production following an impressive 35-point, 17-rebound performance in the season-opener, as he has only scored 12.6 per game on a dreadful 35.6%-shooting after that.
Finally, there’s bruising center Wendell Carter not getting enough chances. The 20-year-old is mostly there for defense, but he has to be fed more on offense when he has shown the ability to deliver. He’s only getting 26.7 minutes and 8.6 attempt attempts despite being able to score 12.8 points and shoot 56.8% from the floor.
Much of the issues are being rooted to the weird rotations from head coach Jim Boylen, who has a tendency to sit out players that are hot and stay with the cold ones.
PREDICTION:
The Rockets win a high-scoring affair, once again showcasing that their best defense is a high-powered offense. If the Bulls are able to capitalize on the terrible defense, look for Lavine to have a big scoring night.
