Coming off a loss against the Western Conference champions San Antonio Spurs, the Chicago Bulls are up against another top-tier team.
The Houston Rockets, coming off a loss against the Oklahoma Thunder, will try to bounce back and continue to start a new winning streak.
The Bulls will try to avoid a rare set of back-to-back losses Thursday night as they continue a difficult six-game home stand against a Houston Rockets team that's also been excellent at bouncing back.
The Bulls beat Miami 95-88 in overtime on Sunday but fell behind 51-19 in the second quarter Tuesday, when a season-high 63-point second half couldn't save them in a 104-96 loss to San Antonio.
"I told them, that's completely on me. My job is to have them ready. We had no edge to us,'' coach Tom Thibodeau said. "That's a championship-caliber team that's playing on all cylinders and they're going after it, so if you don't match that intensity to start, you are going to get in a big hole."
The Rockets, on the other hand, where burned by Kevin Durant late in the fourth quarter. After statement victories against the Portland Trailblazers, Indiana Pacers, and Miami Heat, the rockets will prove that those wins are not fluke.
The Bulls haven't been able to keep up with the Rockets (44-20) recently, dropping four straight and the last two by a combined 38 points. James Harden (26), Chandler Parsons (23) and Jeremy Lin (20) led the way in a 120-97 win in their last trip to the United Center on Christmas Day 2012, and Dwight Howard put up a game-high 23 in Houston's 109-94 victory on Dec. 18. Expect James Harden to remain hot as he was this past 5 games.
"From here on our every game is going to be a playoff atmosphere," Harden said. "We've had a couple already, one (Tuesday), one Thursday and then another one on Sunday.
"Every game is going to be emotional and we've got to do a great job of fighting through it and not getting sidetracked but focusing on the main goal."
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