Chicago Bulls fans still revere Michael Jordan nearly 30 years after the franchise icon played his last game for the team.
Houston star Kevin Durant, who also has great reverence for Jordan, leads the Rockets into Monday’s game in Chicago after passing the NBA legend on the career scoring list Saturday.
Durant scored 27 points to pace Houston to a 123-122 home victory against Miami. He enters Monday with 32,294 points — two more than Jordan and fifth most all time — along with an esteem for the company he’s joining.
“I’ve been inspired by all of these players that I’m either coming close to or passing up,” Durant said. “MJ is in a world of his own. He’s in a planet, a galaxy, of his own and is somebody that I look up to and respect who’s basically shaped the game for me.”
Houston (43-27) has won two straight, while Chicago (28-42) has lost two in a row.
The Rockets edged the Heat on Amen Thompson’s tip-in at the buzzer after Miami took a one-point lead on a goaltending call against Houston with 5.4 seconds left.
Monday marks the beginning of a four-game road trip for Houston, which is just 18-17 away from home.
With young talents Reed Sheppard (23 points, 14 assists on Saturday) and Thompson (24 points, 18 rebounds) emerging lately, though, the Rockets are confident about the upcoming trip and beyond.
Thompson commended Sheppard on Saturday for “getting dudes the ball in the right spot, manipulating the defense.”
Chicago will aim to split a four-game homestand with a victory. After thumping Memphis by 25 on March 16, the Bulls have lost to Eastern Conference contenders Toronto and Cleveland in successive games.
Chicago trailed Cleveland by 29 points in the third quarter Thursday before trimming the deficit to one down the stretch but was unable to complete the comeback.
“Obviously, none of us want to be in that position,” Bulls guard Tre Jones said of facing a large deficit. “But we found ourselves in that position again, and so just trying to continue to stay together as tough it can be at times. The competitiveness took it to another level in the second half. We talked about it after the game, and that’s the standard we have to have going into games.
“We were playing a lot more physical with a lot more urgency,” Jones said. “Making plays on the defensive end. We were hitting guys on defense. Erroring on the side of aggression, and that’s always a positive.”
Josh Giddey contributed a career-best 19 assists against Cleveland, becoming the first Bull with at least that many in a game since 1985.
Houston has won four straight in the series and six of the past 10. Despite a career-high 34 points from Jones, the visiting Bulls lost to the visiting Rockets 119-113 on Jan. 13.
Durant (28 points, 10 rebounds) and Alperen Sengun (23 points, 11 assists) both notched double-doubles for Houston, while Thompson scored 23 points.
Jones is averaging 25.7 points and six assists in his last three games against the Rockets.
