Bulls, Rockets have plenty in common
The Chicago Bulls couldn't ask for a more appropriate opponent on their playoff-desperation tour.
Both the Bulls and Houston Rockets were widely expected to be top-four seeds in their respective conferences, but both teams are fighting to even make the playoffs. The Bulls face Houston on Thursday at the Toyota Center.
The Rockets have an edge in playoff position right now. After rallying to beat the LeBron-less Cavaliers on Tuesday in Cleveland, Houston was a half-game ahead of Dallas for eighth place in the West.
The Bulls got an important last-second win Tuesday at Indiana but trail the eighth-place Pacers by 2 games with eight remaining.
"It was big to get a win here. Guys are nicked up," Butler told bulls.com after hitting the game-winning jumper with 3.7 seconds left at Indiana. "To pull out a win like this on the road against a playoff team is big for us."
The Bulls' season was never supposed to come to this, but the Rockets might be an even bigger disappointment. They played in the Western Conference finals last year.
It turns out, these two declining teams have a few things in common:
• Both fired successful head coaches: The Rockets made a bizarre decision to fire Kevin McHale after a 4-7 start this season. Replacement J.B. Bickerstaff, a first-time head coach, didn't even get a training camp to get acclimated, though he had spent four seasons as a Rockets assistant.
The Bulls decided to move on from Tom Thibodeau last May even though he led the team to the playoffs for five straight seasons. Obviously, the transition to Fred Hoiberg has been a little rocky, but to Hoiberg's credit, when the Bulls do the things he has talked about all season long, they can look pretty good.
• Injuries are an excuse: Houston can't match the Bulls in the sheer volume of injury excuses. James Harden has played in every game and Trevor Ariza missed one. Dwight Howard has skipped 11 games, but that's a big improvement from last season when he missed 41.
The Rockets' most notable injury might be Donatas Montiejunas being slowed by a bad back to the point where Detroit vetoed a trade for the power forward in February. Montiejunas was a key contributor in 2014-15.
Joakim Noah's season ended in January with a shoulder injury. Beyond that, four of the Bulls' top seven scorers have missed at least 12 games.
• Father time is undefeated: Jason Terry, 38, took a step backward for Houston this year after being a pretty reliable scorer off the bench. As Bulls fans are well aware, there have been plenty of nights when having two 35-year-olds (Pau Gasol and Mike Dunleavy) in the starting lineup seemed like a bad idea.
• Chemistry class study group needed: The Rockets made a few subtle moves that backfired. Josh Smith signed with the Clippers, Houston brought him back, but now he rarely plays. The Rockets added point guard Ty Lawson, then cut him.
For some scoring punch, Houston has turned to Michael Beasley, No. 2 pick of the 2008 draft, and he actually has played well.
The Bulls had just two new players this season - Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio - but the transition of Butler rising to become the team's best player and supposed leader hasn't always gone smoothly. Plenty of people can share the blame for that.
A problem unique to the Bulls is having too many young, defensively clueless players in significant roles.
The Bulls have nothing like Houston's Dwight Howard problem. Less than two years after signing Howard as a free agent, the Rockets shopped the once-dominant big man at the trade deadline and found no takers.
The Rockets' best asset is Harden, a top-line star who hasn't slowed down this season. He's the guy to build around, no question. The Bulls could rebuild or retool in many different ways this summer.
The key to Thursday's game might be if Butler feels healthy enough to give his best defensive effort against Harden. In the Bulls' 108-100 victory at the United Center on March 5, Harden scored 36 points but hit just 10 of 26 shots. He also scored most of his points when Butler was on the bench.
"I'm always confident," Butler said in Indiana. "I just need my body to stay where I can compete and help my team. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get into these playoffs. My teammates know that, my coaches know that. I hope everybody knows that."
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