Three keys for Bulls against the Rockets: Try your best to limit James Harden

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Not exactly an ideal turnaround for the Bulls, who had to make the long flight from Detroit to Houston following Friday night's game to get some rest before facing the Rockets in the 2nd leg of a weekend back-to-back.

Of course, these aren't last year's Rockets, the team that used a 3 point dominant offense to rack up an NBA best 65 wins. James Harden wound up winning the MVP award, and he's still playing great this season, averaging a league-leading 31 points and nearly 9 assists per game. But Chris Paul is starting to slow down a bit at the age of 33, and the Carmelo Anthony experiment turned out to be a complete disaster.

The Rockets let defensive minded forwards Trevor Ariza and Luc Mbah a Moute walk in free agency to clear the decks for Melo, who only lasted 10 games before head coach Mike D'Antoni decided to pull the plug. Now, Houston is using young G-League type players in key reserve roles because of injuries and they're sitting near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.

The Bulls and Rockets met on November 3rd at the United Center with Houston taking advantage of a poor 3rd quarter by the home team to pull out a 96-88 win. Neither team shot the ball well, but Harden warmed up after a slow start to score 25 points in his first game back from an early season hamstring injury. Anthony scored 17 points off the bench in that game, but the Rockets decided a couple weeks later his mid-range game didn't fit in D'Antoni's offense, and the future Hall of Famer and his agent are now shopping for a new team, even though he's still on the Houston roster.

Clint Capela is still finishing alley-oop dunks and blocking shots (27 pts., 12 reb., 4 blocks vs. Spurs on Friday), Eric Gordon provides instant offense off the bench, and P.J. Tucker is a solid 2-way forward, but clearly the formula that led to so much team success a year ago isn't working. Rockets' general manager Daryl Morey is one of the league's most aggressive executives, but he really doesn't have many trade chips other than future draft picks to try to find some help.

Of course, the Bulls would love to have the Rockets' problems right now. Until Lauri Markkanen, Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis return from injuries, Fred Hoiberg has been forced to try to win games with one of the thinnest rosters in the NBA and the result has been a lot of close losses. The Bulls led Houston at halftime in the earlier meeting in Chicago, only to be outscored 21-7 in the 3rd quarter thanks to 12 minutes of poor shot selection and turnovers.

Zach LaVine had 21 points in that game, but most of them came at the free throw line where he went 12-13. It was a different story from the field, where the Bulls' leading scorer only made 4 of 16 attempts. And it looks like LaVine is starting to feel the effects of carrying the Bulls’ offense after scoring a season-low 8 points on 3 of 12 shooting against Detroit on Friday. Wendell Carter Jr. had 14 points and 13 rebounds against Houston in the last game and the rookie center is coming off a career-high 28 point game against the Pistons, so his confidence level should be high going up against Capela.

So, what do the Bulls have to do for a chance at a road upset on Saturday?

1. KEEP HARDEN FROM TAKING OVER. The reigning league MVP is capable of taking over a game by himself with his scoring and ball-handling skills. The Bulls have to give him some different looks defensively to keep him out of his comfort zone. Also, make Harden work on the defensive end, especially when he's matched up with LaVine.

2. PROTECT THE 3-POINT LINE.  The reason Anthony is no longer playing for the Rockets is that he didn't fit with Mike D'Antoni's dunks, lay-up and 3's offensive strategy. Outside of Capela, everyone on the Houston roster has the green light to fire from beyond the arc. Eric Gordon has been especially hot lately, averaging nearly 24 points a game and 5 made three pointers over his last 5.

3. AVOID THE NIGHTMARE QUARTER.  This has been one of the biggest reasons for the Bulls' 5-18 record to this point. They have been able to hang with teams for long stretches, only to be done in by a poor quarter. Houston didn't play all that well at the United Center in the earlier meeting, but a 7 point 3rd quarter cost the Bulls a chance for a win.

You can watch Saturday's game on NBC Sports Chicago and the My Teams by NBC Sports app. Former Bulls' star Horace Grant joins Kendall Gill, Will Perdue and me for Bulls Pre-Game Live at 6:30, and stay tuned after the final buzzer for reaction and analysis on Bulls Post-Game Live.

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