Game Preview: Bulls At Kings
Jimmy Butler continues to lead the way for the Chicago Bulls, who could again be without two of their best players Thursday night.
The Sacramento Kings could also be missing a key piece in Rudy Gay.
Chicago tries to improve to 7-0 on the road for the first time in team history when it visits slumping Sacramento, which has easily taken the last two home meetings in the series.
The Bulls (8-3) have outscored opponents by an average of 10.0 points as the visiting team after pulling out a 105-89 win over the Clippers on Monday in the opener of a seven-game trip. Butler shot 6 of 17 but finished with 22 points and a season-high eight assists as Chicago overcame the absences of Derrick Rose (hamstring) and Pau Gasol (calf).
Mike Dunleavy and Taj Gibson scored a combined 39 points on 15-of-23 shooting while Joakim Noah added 11 and 16 rebounds. The Bulls held a 36-24 edge in the paint and scored 16 points off 12 turnovers.
"We just proved what we've proven time and again with this team - it's a pretty resilient group," Dunleavy said. "It doesn't matter who's out there for us. We're going to come out and compete and give it everything we've got."
Butler is averaging a team-leading 21.3 points, including 25.0 over the last three games. He's shooting 50.8 percent - well above his career mark of 43.2 - and his six 20-point games are one more than he had all of last season.
"He's become one of those go-to players," Gibson said. "Jimmy's focused and he's having a big year. The sky is the limit for him."
Butler, who ranks fourth in the league with 6.4 made foul shots per game, may need to carry the load again if Rose and Gasol can't go. Gasol is averaging 18.6 points and a team-leading 10.6 boards, while Rose - who has only appeared in five games due to injury - is averaging 18.0 points. Both players are officially listed as questionable along with Gay, who is dealing with tendinitis in his Achilles.
Gay played through the injury but struggled in Tuesday's 106-100 loss to New Orleans. He came in averaging a team-leading 22.5 points before scoring 15 on 6-of-17 shooting.
DeMarcus Cousins had 24 points and 17 boards for the Kings (6-5), who have dropped four of five after winning five straight. Sacramento was outscored 31-15 in the third quarter and forced a season-low six turnovers.
"We just kind of took our foot off the pedal (in the second half)," point guard Darren Collison told the team's official website. "We blame this on ourselves - this was a game that we should have won. This was nothing but an effort game and I thought we didn't show that."
Effort hasn't been an issue in Sacramento's last two home games against Chicago. The Kings embarrassed the Bulls in a 121-79 victory March 13, 2013 before handing them a 99-70 defeat Feb. 3, their only wins over an eight-game stretch in the series.
Another blow out seems unlikely given Chicago's play on the road. The Bulls are fifth in the league with 104.7 points per game away from home, an enormous improvement over last season when they ranked last at 92.9.
The last team to open 7-0 on the road was San Antonio, which won its first eight in 2010-11.
"We take a lot of pride in going on the road and getting wins because you have to defend and rebound to do that," Dunleavy said. "That's our calling card."
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