Joakim Noah and the short-handed Bulls host the Oklahoma City Thunder Thursday night. (Getty)
The Chicago Bulls are without their starting backcourt – Derrick Rose and leading scorer Jimmy Butler – and it’s beginning to show.
Chicago has gone 2-2 since losing Rose but had gone 6-2 over the previous 8 games. Butler (20.2 ppg) is out 3-to-4 weeks with a sprained elbow.
Thursday night the Bulls (38-23) host the Oklahoma City Thunder, who just welcomed back one of their superstars. Russell Westbrook, who missed one game after undergoing facial surgery, returned to the court Wednesday night and picked up his fourth consecutive triple-double (49 points, 16 rebounds, 10 assists). OKC (34-27) is still without Kevin Durant (foot). He has missed 6 straight games.
Russell Westbrook is just the 5th player over the last 47 years with 45 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists in a game. (via @EliasSports)
40-point triple-doubles in consecutive games in NBA history: Pete Maravich, Michael Jordan…..Russell Westbrook. (via @EliasSports)
The game tips off at 8 p.m. Eastern on TNT. Kevin Harlan is on the play-by-play with Steve Smith serving as the analyst.
The contest marks Craig Sager‘s first of the season as the courtside reporter. Sager was diagnosed with leukemia last year and he missed the entire 2014 playoffs. His son tweeted on February 25 his father was cancer-free and returning to the court for the Bulls-Thunder game.
There is no free, unrestricted live stream for the games. But if you have access to a cable or satellite subscription, you can watch in the following ways:
Watch Thunder-Bulls Online
Russell Westbrook returned to action Wednesday night after undergoing facial surgery recently. (Getty)
If you have access to a cable subscription log-in and password — either yours or that of someone you know — you can watch the game online for free via Watch TNT. If you’re having trouble logging in or have questions about the service, try the site’s help page.
Watch Thunder-Bulls on Mobile
(Getty)
Mobile users can watch the game by downloading the Watch TNT app. It’s available in the App Store, the Google Play Store and the Windows Store. As is the case with the desktop stream, you will need a cable or satellite log-in to watch the game on your mobile device.
