Spurs should have revenge on their minds for last month's Bulls debacle

It's time for the Spurs to put an end to another losing streak. The Bulls have won the last five games against the Silver and Black—the last one coming December 5, when San Antonio played without Victor Wembanyama. The result was a 139-124 beatdown where the team gave up the second-most points of the season. Tonight, they can end the Chicago drought, and get their revenge.

Spurs can finally end struggles to contain the Bulls' offense

San Antonio has played much better defense all season, but Wembanyama is the lynchpin, giving them the edge to hold high-scoring teams to below their average. Not only will he be in the lineup tonight, but the Spurs as a group have raised their effort.

Defense has always been the calling card for this organization, yet the team's rebuild forced fans to sit through some abysmal units. Now that the players have grown together (one being a transcendent defender helps), they've gotten back to a level of defense fans are familiar with. The Big 3 era was known for stifling even the best offenses, and this team is capable of reaching that level.

It started with Nikola Vucevic last time. The Bulls fed him consistently with an undersized Spurs team on the other side, and he took advantage. His 39 points led both teams, and he was impossibly efficient, going 16-22 that night.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Ayo Dosunmu went off for 27 on 9-13 from the field and 3-3 on 3-pointers. It was one of the poorest defensive displays of the season—especially considering the guard of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ordinarily only averages 12.6 points per game.

The encouraging part is the fight they showed without their star. 124 points is nothing to roll your eyes at. Keldon Johnson had one of his best games of the season, throwing 28 points on the board on 11-17 shots. He was the only player wearing silver and black to reach 20 points, but he was also just one of six guys to hit double digits.

Jeremy Sochan even tore down 14 boards on top of the 16 points he added, while Chris Paul dished out nine assists to pair with 12 points. It was a game that added character, but like the guys keep saying, they expect to win games while learning. The time for accepting defeat graciously because you learned a lesson is over.

The Bulls are the only team currently under .500 that the Spurs will play until the Hornets on February 7. Most of the games will be on the road, so now is the time to buckle down, lean on that defense, and use everything they've learned to fortify their identity as a true playoff contender. It will take all of their might to do so, but the first point of order is reminding Chicago who the standard of the NBA is.