Chicago Bulls at Utah Jazz Game Thread

So it's the Utah Jazz hosting the Chicago Bulls tonight. Somehow I don't think anyone sent pizza to Butler's room last night with the hopes of giving him gastric distress. This game isn't that important as an NBA Finals game, but it's still important to both teams. While the Chicago Bulls don't have a shot at making up ground to get the #2 seed in the East, they are trying to stave off falling to the #4 or #5 spots in a very tight chase race in their conference. As for the Utah Jazz, well, they need any wins possible. They missed a lot of gimmies due to close games, and were not competitive for over a month because of injuries. Healthy (-ish) now they have to go for it. Utah wants to win their 3rd game in a row, a season first. Chicago just got blown out by the Clippers 120-93, so may want to save some face and get back to winning.

But if you ask the marketing department, and the random, casual NBA fan . . . . they already have.

Wow. Just . . . wow.

Starters:

• PG: Derrick Rose vs. Raul Neto
• SG: Jimmy Butler vs. Rodney Hood
• SF: E'Twaun Moore vs. Gordon Hayward
• PF: Taj Gibson vs. Derrick Favors
• C: Pau Gasol vs. Rudy Gobert

Key Bench:

• Aaron Brooks / Kirk Hinrich vs. Trey Burke
• Bobby Portis vs. Trevor Booker
• Tony Snell vs. Joe Ingles
• Doug McDermott vs. Chris Johnson
• Cameron Bairstow vs. Jeff Withey

Injuries / Absences:

• Joakim Noah (CHI, C) -- OUT, left shoulder
• Nikola Mirotic (CHI, PF/SF) -- OUT, appendicitis
• Mike Dunleavy Jr. (CHI, SG/SF) -- OUT, back
• Kirk Hinrich (CHI, PG) -- IN, but has a left quad contusion
• E'Twaun Moore (CHI, G) -- IN, but has a right hamstring strain
• Derrick Rose (CHI, PG) -- IN, but has a right hamstring and back injuries

• Dante Exum (UTA, PG) -- OUT, left ACL rehabilitation
• Alec Burks (UTA, SG/PG) -- OUT, fractured left fibula rehabilitation
• Tibor Pleiss (UTA, C) -- ASSIGNED, NBADL affiliate Idaho Stampede

GO JAZZ GO