The Chicago Bulls host the Miami Heat on Friday night and boy are we all in for a treat.
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It’s been an absolute whirlwind for several days in the world of Dwyane Wade. First, he was quoted in a piece by Nick Friedell of ESPN as saying that his intention on his player option will be influenced by the Bulls performance over the course of the season. Both reasonable and a bit of a warning sign that things might be going so well with their recently acquired star guard.
After that, Wade showed a serious amount of apathy during Chicago’s late collapse against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday. After the game, he went off on the team’s young players and even took to Twitter in order to tweet some shade.
It wasn’t over, however, as Rajon Rondo took to Instagram to very overtly send a massive “Shots Fired” social media post right back at both Wade and Jimmy Butler. Butler was also extremely vocal in criticizing the younger players on the Bulls roster.
All of this has kind of buried what would normally be the lede on a piece like this – Wade is playing his old team, the Heat.
Amazingly, despite having a losing record on the season and being swept by lowly teams like the Dallas Mavericks, Chicago is 2-0 against Miami this season.
All of that was before Dion Waiters caught fire, of course. While the Bulls continue to struggle and plow through the season with a record always at or near .500, the Heat have been on the upswing. A lot of that is thanks to the outstanding play of Waiters.
Dion is leading the way for Miami during an incredible hot streak. Right now, the Heat are in the middle of a five-game win streak with wins over the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors. Waiters scored 33 points in the wins over both the Bucks and Warriors, including a game winner against Golden State and another game winner against the Brooklyn Nets, as he posted a team-high 24 points.
So this is the perfect storm for Chicago. Waiters is on a tear, the Heat are playing like a team possessed, and the Bulls have so many internal issues right now that if we don’t wake up to news of a trade or firing or Gar Forman, John Paxson or Fred Hoiberg, it will almost feel wrong.
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Regardless of how you feel about Chicago’s performance this season, you’ll want to tune in and see if Friday is the beginning of the end or just another chapter in the confusing chaos that is the 2016-17 Bulls.
Matchup: Chicago Bulls (23-24) vs. Miami Heat (16-30)
When: 7:00 p.m. CST
Where: United Center, Chicago, IL
TV: CSN-Chicago
Radio: WLS-AM 890, WRTO 1200 (ESP)