After an increase of muscle in game with Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo during the offseason, the Chicago Bulls were expecting that they would make a big change as a team sets this season, and that's precisely what they've finished after drubbing the Brooklyn Nets 118-88 on Monday night.
That victorious battle, in which Jimmy Butler scored and led the way with 22 points in an easy win, gives the Bulls a 3-0 record out of their first three games, and while it would be easy to detect the blocks ahead of them, it's quite an exceptional achievement for the Bulls.
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The reason that the record is so prominent is that it's been 20 years since the Bulls started out with three straight wins. The last time they were 3-0 is was in the 1996-97 season, when the Bulls stood up winning 69 games and won their fifth championship with Michael Jordan as their center.
If this year's Bulls are going to try to correspond to what that league did, then they still have a lot of work to do. The 1996-97 Bulls won their first 12 games of the regular season, and a tough bout against teams like the Hawks, Heat, and Knicks that still dominate the next few weeks for the Bulls.
Even with that criticsm, there is still plenty to be positive about for the Bulls line-up today. Butler is middling over 20 points a game, and fears about either he and Wade would co-exist have been greatly overstated thus far. Rondo is averaging 8.7 assists per game as he pilots the offense, and Taj Gibson has taken to his incipient power forward role strong, averaging nearly 10 rebounds and 14.7 points per game.
The Bulls will take next court on Wednesday night when they head to Boston for an action rematch with the Celtics.
