Breathe a sigh of relief, Bulls fans -- Derrick Rose is expected to be ready to play in tonight's game at Sacramento, the final game of the circus trip. The Bulls need a win to come home with a 4-3 record on the trip, which would be considered a great success -- the first time they would have done so since the 1997-98 season. You likely remember that season... the last of the six championship Michael Jordan years.
This team isn't as dominant as those teams were, but it is showing signs of being one of the better teams in the NBA. Even last night, when Rose was out, C.J. Watson stepped up with his best game as a Bull, scoring 33 points, and the Bulls might have won in Denver if only John Lucas III had made a pair of free throws in the last minute of the game.
Tonight, the Bulls face the struggling Kings, who have lost nine of their last 10 games and averaged only 89.1 points per game during that stretch. Last year's rookie of the year Tyreke Evans has averaged only 9.3 PPG during those 10 games, far below his season average of 17.5 points.
Tonight's game begins at 9 p.m. CST and can be seen on WGN (both Chicago and nationally).