The Cleveland Cavaliers travel to Illinois to face the Chicago Bulls at United Center on Saturday.

The Cavaliers (12-30) have been playing much better than their record would indicate. While they come into this matchup losing eight of their last 10 games, they've been competing in pretty much every game. While some of the scorelines may look lopsided, that's not indicative of how hard this club plays on a nightly basis. That doesn't even take into consideration this nightmare schedule, playing the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets all on the road over the last three games. That would make anyone pick up a lengthy losing streak and a win over the Nuggets in that stretch may end up being their best victory of the season. The backcourt appears to be growing as well, with Darius Garland taking on the distribution duties and Collin Sexton taking on the scoring load.

The Bulls (15-28) have traded off wins and losses over their last five games, with the most recent one being a road loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. While Chicago hung around throughout that game, this roster is too shorthanded to compete with a frontcourt like that. The Bulls are now without Daniel Gafford, Wendell Carter Jr and Otto Porter Jr, making this frontcourt extremely thin. That's a major reason why the Bulls have just two wins over their last 10 games in total, making this yet another lost season. It's certainly no fault of Zach LaVine though, with the shooting guard averaging 24.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. The next step is to get Lauri Markkanen back on track, as he's really been struggling throughout the year. He's really the only dangerous weapon left in that dismantled frontcourt and they simply won't compete unless he returns to his 20-10 potential.

Cleveland won the first game over Chicago earlier this season, 117-111, on October 30.