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A lot has changed for both the Chicago Bulls and Philadelphia 76ers since they met in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs a season ago, when the Sixers knocked the top-seeded Bulls out of the postseason and Chicago lost MVP point guard Derrick Rose with a torn ACL in his left knee.
On Saturday night, the two teams meet for the first time since last spring, and while Rose is still recovering, Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com writes on Friday that the situations in Chicago and Philadelphia aren't exactly the same as they were when they last faced one another.
For one, the 76ers dealt away Andre Iguodala, as well as Louis Williams and Elton Brand, getting center Andrew Bynum back in return. With Bynum on the shelf indefinitely, though, Philadelphia has had to play largely like the team they were last year, with a focus on defense and hustle.
The Bulls have won two of their last three games, as head coach Tom Thibodeau, according to the report, wants to keep the forward momentum rolling. He also spoke in the report about the new-look 76ers:
"It's in the past. You learn from every situation, we move on. They're our next opponent, so we have to know them well. They're different in terms of some of their personnel, but philosophically, they're the same. Doug's their coach -- a great coach -- he always gets his teams to play to their strengths and cover their weaknesses, so we have to be ready."