Chicago @ Miami preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 15, 2018 ) Miami 111, Chicago 119

The Miami Heat expect to have center Hassan Whiteside back in the lineup when they host the struggling Chicago Bulls on Thursday. Whiteside missed the past nine games due to a hip flexor and he is expected to be cleared in the hours prior to tip-off.

Whiteside put in the practice time on Wednesday but admitted he has some concerns after missing the past three weeks. "It's not pain. It just makes it tough to lift your leg up, but it's no pain," Whiteside told reporters. "I'm hoping for the best. It might be some limitations once I come back regardless, just to get me into the flow of things." Chicago is fading the wrong directions with six straight losses by an average of 20.5 points. "You can see who's going to try to compete through it and fight through tough times," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters. "... I have to get us better and get us to continue to play through the tough times more than we're doing right now."

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, WGN (Chicago), FS Sun (Miami)

ABOUT THE BULLS (24-50): Rookie power forward Lauri Markkanen displayed he is moving forward after his recent back issues and he tallied 22 points in 28 minutes during Tuesday's 118-86 loss to the Houston Rockets. But Chicago didn't have many other bright spots to boast about as it committed 19 turnovers and went 8-of-37 from 3-point range while being no match for the powerful Rockets. "It teaches you lessons for the long haul," forward Bobby Portis said afterward. "Obviously we got beat bad, but you can look back on this in a couple of years when we're the team that does it. We're taking our whooping and hopefully we'll learn from it."

ABOUT THE HEAT (40-35): Whiteside's interior presence has been missed but Miami went 5-4 without him, topped by Tuesday's 98-79 rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Miami stands seventh in the Eastern Conference and is 5 1/2 games clear of the ninth-place Detroit Pistons, and the schedule is favorable with the Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, back-to-back with the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks lined up for the next five games. Kelly Olynyk played well during Whitehead's absence and is averaging 17.4 points over the past seven games after scoring a team-best 19 against the Cavaliers.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The Heat are 2-1 against the Bulls this season and won seven of the past 10 meetings.

2. Chicago SG Justin Holiday is averaging 4.8 points on 11-of-46 shooting over the last six contests.

3. Miami is 24-6 this season when holding opponents under 100 points.

PREDICTION: Heat 114, Bulls 90