The Boston Celtics host the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday in a battle of two playoff hopefuls in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics come in at 12-9 which is tied for eighth in the Eastern Conference while the Bulls are 11-7 which is good for third in the extremely bunched up East.
The Bulls come into this game not playing their best basketball as they have lost two in a row for the first time all season. Head coach Fred Hoiberg hasn't been very pleased with their play so he is considering a lineup change. The change that will likely happen is Taj Gibson replacing Nikola Mirotic in the starting lineup.
In the Bulls last game against the Phoenix Suns they lost on a Mirza Teletovic fade away with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. In that game Pau Gasol had 22 points and 10 rebounds and overall he has been the Bulls' best player so far this season as he has a PER of 21.2 while averaging 14.8 points 10.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.
Jimmy Butler isn't far behind Gasol in terms of who has been the best for the Bulls this season as he has a 20.5 PER. Butler's minutes haven't gone down as much as many thought they would with Tom Thibodeau gone but he is still playing well as he leads the team with 20.4 points per game and 1.9 steals per game.
Of note for the Bulls is the fact that Mike Dunleavy will not play in this game as he has yet to debut this season due to back problems. It was expected that Dunleavy would be back around now but he had a setback and will likely need at least another month.
The Celtics have been playing pretty well of late as they have won five of their last seven and seem to be getting where many expected them this season. The Celtics surprised a lot of people last season when they made the playoffs but they came in this year with bigger expectations and are now starting to live up to them. Brad Stevens has Boston playing some of the best defense in the NBA and that's what Chicago will have to cope with.
Boston is led by point guard Isaiah Thomas who is now entrenched in the starting lineup after being a sixth man for most of his career and he has rewarded the Celtics by having a career year so far. Thomas leads the team with a career high 21.0 points per game and also leads the team, by far, with his 22.9 PER.
The Celtics are a very deep team, particularly in the frontcourt, so there were questions about how Stevens would split up the minutes there but one guy who has earned minutes is Jared Sullinger. Sullinger is second on the team with his 18.4 PER and he is averaging 10.3 points and a team leading 9.4 rebounds per game in just 25.5 minutes.
On the injury front the Celtics will be without Marcus Smart in this one as he has missed their past nine games with a left leg injury. Smart is likely still a few weeks away from a return. R.J. Hunter is currently dealing with a hip injury that kept him out of the Celtics last game and David Lee has a heel issue that has made him miss the last two so both of their statuses for Wednesday night are in doubt.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 P.M. Eastern time and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Celtics radio broadcast go here and for the Bulls radio broadcast go here.
