The Bulls get the opposite setup. They played in Boston on Monday and then have 2 days off at home before tip at 7:00 PM CT. They need that rest. Payton Pritchard hit 7-for-10 from 3 and scored 28, and the Celtics' bench beat Chicago's 79-33 in a 134-99 loss. The game was within 12 at halftime before a 39-21 3rd quarter blew it open. Chicago also shot 27% from deep and lost the paint 46-30.
Ball security is the Knicks' biggest problem. They turned it over 49 times in their first 3 games, including 16 against Orlando, and Brown pointed straight at careless giveaways that led to transition buckets going the other way. Now pair that with a Bulls team that scored 132 in Milwaukee for its only win but has also given up 135, 124 and 134 in its losses. If New York cleans up the turnovers, Chicago's defense has shown little that would stop them. If the Knicks keep giving it away, the Bulls get the easy offense they couldn't find in Boston.
Chicago's frontcourt is still short. Nic Claxton has been out with a hamstring injury since the first week of October. He's back in individual drills but is aiming for practice next week, not this game. Patrick Williams sat out the Boston game with a groin injury. Both missing pieces showed up in that paint number. The Knicks have no injuries listed, which is part of why 0-3 looks so bad: they have nothing to blame it on.
Both teams have been bad. The Knicks have a title-team roster that isn't playing like one yet, while the Bulls are thin up front and getting killed off the bench. Brown said the issues are fixable, and a tired road team against a rested, short-handed home team is a fair test of whether he's right.