Houston @ Chicago preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 10, 2017 ) Houston 115, Chicago 94

The Chicago Bulls dropped four of their last five games but only one of those setbacks was of the non-competitive variety - a 125-86 beatdown at Indiana on Saturday. The Bulls will try to put that one behind them and get back to the solid basketball they've been playing for the last month when they host the stumbling Houston Rockets on Monday.

Chicago won 10 of 12 after the return of Nikola Mirotic before dropping three straight by single digits and finding the win column again at Dallas on Friday, but the magic finally ran out on the second night of a back-to-back against the Pacers on Saturday. "The bottom line is, (Indiana) looked comfortable all night," Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters. "They brought the fight to us. They got into us right away. We didn't handle it well." The Rockets aren't handling things well of late and fell for the seventh time in the last nine games with a 108-101 loss at Detroit in the opener of a two-game trip on Saturday. "I don't know if we're a tired team or what, but even starting the game our offense flowed," Houston coach Mike D'Antoni told reporters. "But, you're only up six and I didn't think the intensity on defense was there and sometimes that caused some tired legs or whatever. So, we've got to regroup and get ready for the next game."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston), NBCS Chicago

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (27-11): Houston was the hottest team in the NBA before its recent lull and shot 42.2 percent from the field in Saturday's loss. "We just couldn't get in the flow of knocking down shots," shooting guard Eric Gordon, who finished with 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting, told reporters. "I thought we battled pretty hard, but when you're not knocking down shots, it's kind of tough." Making it harder to knock down shots and loosen up opposing defenses is the absence of star guard James Harden, who sat out the last two games and reportedly could miss up to six weeks due to a hamstring strain.

ABOUT THE BULLS (14-26): Chicago averaged 111.3 points in 16 games prior to Saturday, when it shot 37.5 percent from the floor and was out of the game after totaling 37 points in the first half. Second-year point guard Kris Dunn is trying to become a consistent scoring threat but followed up a career-high 32-point outburst in Friday's win at Dallas with eight points on 4-of-10 shooting in 28 minutes against the Pacers. Dunn scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting against Toronto on Wednesday after scoring 22 against Portland on Jan. 1.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Rockets SG Gerald Green is averaging 19.8 points on 53.2 percent shooting over the last five games.

2. Bulls SG Justin Holiday slumped to six points on 2-of-14 shooting Saturday after totaling 49 points on 12-of-17 in the previous two contests.

3. Harden averaged 30.5 points, 11 assists and 9.5 rebounds in a pair of wins over Chicago last season.

PREDICTION: Bulls 115, Rockets 111